Telangana BJP President and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy has confirmed that the party MLAs will not take oath in the maiden session of the new Legislative Assembly in protest against the Congress Government appointing Majlis Party leader Akbaruddin Owaisi as the pro-tem speaker, on Saturday.
“Within three days of taking power with a tiny majority and in danger of collapsing any day, the Congress Party has gone back to its traditional ways throwing legislative practices to the winds as the the party will need the Majlis Party support. What was the basis to appoint Mr. Owaisi when there are so many other senior legislators,” he questioned, at a press conference at the party office.
Flanked by the newly elected MLAs, Mr. Reddy said the party strongly opposes the move and will also demand the election of a permanent speaker be held by someone else. “We are demanding that Mr. Owaisi should not be allowed to hold the election process for the Speaker. We will complain to the Governor to halt the procedure with the present pro-tem speaker,” he said.
The BJP leader claimed that appointing Mr. Owaisi as the pro-tem speaker has only confirmed the party’s charge that the Congress Party had a tacit understanding with the Majlis Party during the elections. “We will take the oath only after a permanent speaker is elected for the Legislative Assembly,” he declared.
Earlier in the day, he and the newly elected MLAs held a meeting at the party office where the decision not to attend the Assembly session was taken. They later worshipped at the Bhagyalakshmi Temple at Charminar, paid homage at the Martyrs Memorial in front of the Assembly and also garlanded the statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at the Tank Bund.
The party’s senior most MLA and most likely legislature party leader elected for the third time from Goshamahal, T. Raja Singh, had openly declared a day before that he will not be taking the oath because Mr. Owaisi has been made the pro-tem speaker. He did the same during the last Assembly when another Majlis Party MLA Mumtaz Khan was made the pro-tem Speaker when Mr. Raja Singh was the lone MLA elected from the BJP.
