HYDERABAD: The State Legislative Assembly will meet on Saturday to facilitate the newly-elected MLAs to take oath as members of the House even as the election of the Speaker has been scheduled for December 14.
Sources said that nominations for the Speaker’s elections will be received on December 13. The Congress has declared the candidature of Vikarabad legislator G. Prasad Kumar while the main Opposition BRS is yet to make its stand clear on whether it would abide by the normal practice of electing a ruling party nominee unopposed, or pitch for an election.
Congress has the required numbers, 64 of its own and a CPI member to win the Speaker election in the event of BRS fielding its candidate. Even with the support of BJP and MIM, the BRS cannot secure a win.
A third timer to the Assembly, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will for the first time be sitting in the treasury benches and that too as Leader of the House. He was a member of the Assembly from 2009 to 2014 and from 2014 to 2018 but as a Telugu Desam member. He lost the 2018 Assembly polls.
There are no chances of former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao attending the Assembly session as he is undergoing treatment in a private hospital for hip replacement.
Meanwhile, selection of the BRSLP leader on Saturday assumes political significance as the party has a strength of 39 MLAs and the BRSLP leader will get the cabinet rank leader of opposition (LoP) status. It remains to be seen whether Chandrashekar Rao will become the BRSLP leader or propose K.T. Rama Rao, T. Harish Rao or consider someone out of his family like he did in 2004 and 2009 while opting for G. Vijaya Rama Rao and Etala Rajendar, respectively.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan appointed six time MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi of All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen as protem speaker and will administer his oath at Raj Bhavan in the morning.
