All 8 BJP MLAs in Telangana boycott taking oath with Akbaruddin Owaisi as Pro-tem Speaker

Akbaruddin was administered the oath as the Pro-tem Speaker by Governor Tamilisai Soundararjan at Raj Bhavan on Saturday. It has been a protocol in the state to let a senior legislator in the House be the Pro-tem Speaker. Akbaruddin is the senior-most legislator, having won the Chandrayangutta constituency six times.

A Pro-tem Speaker is appointed to administer the oath of office to the newly-elected MLAs in the first post-poll sitting of the Assembly. He presides over the voting and election of the new Speaker.

Elections to the Speaker’s post are scheduled on December 14. The Congress in Telangana has nominated Gaddam Prasad Kumar for the post of Speaker.

BJP MLA T Raja Singh said, “Why would one take oath in front of someone who threatens and abuses Hindus, and makes anti-Hindu comments? When the Speaker is elected, we will go to his chamber and take oath. In 2018, I did not take oath because an AIMIM leader was appointed Pro-tem Speaker. Why do the BRS and Congress want to appease the AIMIM so much? There are so many senior MLAs who could have been appointed,’’ Raja Singh said.

The first to announce he will not take oath with Akbaruddin as Pro-tem Speaker, Singh had told The Indian Express on Friday “I am not going to take the oath if he is sitting in the Speaker’s chair. Akbar is the product of Qasim Razvi, the head of the Nizam’s Razakar army, which massacred Telangana people.’’

Two other BJP MLAs D Suryanarayana from Nizamabad (Urban) and P Rakesh Reddy from Armur refused to comment.

Technically, members who could not take an oath on the first day can do so in the chamber of the Speaker after he is elected.

Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) Spokesperson Dr D Sravan said Raja Singh and other BJP MLAs were setting a bad precedent. “Once you become an elected member and enter the Legislature, you should not be guided by your religious feelings. The BJP MLAs are insulting the Constitution and dishonouring the House. It is absurd and uncalled for. This is nothing but an attempt to whip up communal sentiments. Haven’t BJP MPs taken oath when M Hamid Ansari was Chairman of Rajya Sabha?” he said.

Congress leaders also criticised the BJP MLAs for insulting the Constitution and bringing religion into the House. “Speaker or Pro-tem Speaker is a constitutional post. It was not given to the AIMIM party, it was given to a senior MLA. This opposition shows they are against democracy and the Constitution,’’ said C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Spokesperson, TPCC.

BRS Supremo K Chandrashekar Rao who is recovering from a hip bone surgery and his son working president K T Rama Rao did not attend the Assembly session Saturday and are yet to be sworn in.

In the Assembly elections held on November 30, T Raja Singh won for a third time from Goshamal; Dr P Harish Babu from Sirpur; P Shanker from Adilabad; A Maheshwar Reddy from Nirmal, Ram Rao Pawar from Mudhole, P Rakesh Reddy from Armur, K Venkata Ramana from Kamareddy; and D Surynarayana from Nizamabad Urban.

Besides Singh who lives in Hyderabad, the other seven MLAs came to Hyderabad but decided to boycott the oath-taking. They submitted a representation to the Governor today stating their objection. ”…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 the constitution, Article 188, a senior most member in terms of number of years in the Assembly be nominated as the Pro-tem Speaker. Although there are many members who are senior to Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Government chose to appoint him as the Pro-tem Speaker, which is a clear violation of the set norms,’’ it read.

The BJP tally in the Telangana Assembly jumped from just one in 2018 (Raja Singh was the sole winner five years ago) to eight now, and its vote share also doubled from 6.90 per cent to 14 per cent.

Raja Singh, 45, had spent 76 days in prison in 2022 after the Telangana Police invoked the Preventive Detention Act against him for repeated offences, particularly for allegedly stoking communal tensions in the city. The police cited 104 criminal cases against him, including 18 communal cases.

In November 2022, the High Court revoked his preventive detention. In January, the police issued a fresh show-cause notice to Raja Singh over a speech he made in Mumbai, calling it a violation of the conditions set by the court in its order freeing him.

The BJP fielded him from Goshamahal after reinstating him more than a year after it suspended him in August 2022 over alleged remarks against the Prophet. He was in the party’s first list of 52 candidates. The BJP’s decision came after he threatened to contest as an independent if the party did not lift his suspension and let him contest the polls.