Soon after Congress MLA from Vicarabad Gaddam Prasad Kumar was unanimously elected as the Speaker, the BJP MLAs attended the House and took oath on Thursday, December 14. All eight MLAs of the saffron party had boycotted the oath-taking proceedings on December 9 to protest the appointment of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Owaisi as the pro-tem Speaker.
The saffron party had alleged that Owaisi was appointed pro-tem Speaker in violation of norms, as there were other members in the Assembly who were senior to him. Controversial BJP MLA Raja Singh accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of attempting to appease Muslims and the AIMIM by choosing Akbaruddin as the pro-tem Speaker.
The BJP had complained to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan about his appointment and alleged in a memorandum that the Congress government in the state wilfully violated norms to pander to certain sections of the people in pursuit of appeasement politics. It had urged the Governor to set aside the nomination of Owaisi as pro-tem Speaker and withhold the election process of a new full-time Speaker for the newly constituted Assembly pending nomination of a seniormost member as Speaker.
When the Assembly met for the day on December 14, Owaisi started the proceedings. The MLAs who could not take oath on December 9 were called to complete the formalities. Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy, BRS MLAs Kadiam Srihari, KT Rama Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy, K Prabhakar Reddy, T Padma Rao and P Rajeshwar Reddy also took the oath.
Though the names of BJP MLAs were announced, they did not turn up. Only after Prasad Kumar was elected Speaker and assumed the chair, the BJP MLAs attended the House and took oath. Two BJP MLAs Ramarao Pawar and T Raja Singh took oath in Hindi, while the others took oath in Telugu.