BJP MLAs Boycott Oath-Taking Protesting Akbaruddin Owaisi As Protem Speaker

The newly-elected eight BJP MLAs - B Payal Shanke of Adilabad, K Venkata Ramana Reddy of Kamareddy, Dhanpal Suryanarayana Gupta of Nizamabad Urban, Palvai Harish Babu of Sirpur, Rama Rao Patel of Mudhole, Paidi Rakesh Reddy of Armoor, Aleti Maheshwar Reddy of Nirmal and Raja Singh of Goshamahal - on Saturday boycotted the first day of the Telangana Assembly session in protest against the nomination of AIMIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi as Protem Speaker.

Prior to that they called on Secretary to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan Surendra Mohan (as the Governor was not available), and lodged a protest severely opposing the nomination of Owaisi as Protem Speaker ignoring his seniors.

The BJP MLAs also submitted a memorandum to Dr Soundararajan in which they said, "It is unfortunate that in the very beginning of the newly elected Assembly there is a blatant violation of procedures, protocols and precedents. As per Article 188 of the constitution, the senior-most member in terms of number of years in the Assembly should be nominated as the Protem Speaker. Although there are many members who are senior to Akbaruddin Owaisi, the government chose to appoint him as the Protem Speaker, which is a clear violation of the set norms. The TS-BJP takes strong objection to the way the norms are flouted wilfully by the government to pander to certain sections of the people in pursuit of appeasement politics. (sic)"

They added, "In this context, the BJP urges your goodselves to set aside the nomination of Akbaruddin Owaisi as Protem Speaker as it constitutes violation of norms, and instruct the appointment of the senior-most member, irrespective of his/her affiliation to any political party, as Protem Speaker. The TS-BJP also requests the Governor to instruct the officials concerned to withhold the process of election of a new full-time Speaker for the newly constituted Assembly pending nomination of a senior-most member as Protem Speaker. The TS-BJP, otherwise, will be compelled to refrain from taking oath in front of a person who is appointed against the norms."