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Congress MLA Gaddam Prasad Kumar took charge as the Speaker of the Telangana Assembly on Thursday.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi, BJP, AIMIM, and Left supported the candidature of the Congress MLA and elected him unanimously as the new speaker. The BJP MLAs had earlier refused to take oath under pro-tem Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi, brother of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. They also tendered a representation to the Governor in this regard. The BJP MLAs were administered their oath by the new Speaker on Thursday. Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said, "Gaddam Prasad has been unanimously appointed Speaker of the House. His candidature was endorsed by the members of the BRS, CPI, and AIMIM. We also approached the BJP to support our candidate for Speaker and they agreed. I would like to thank all the parties for unanimously electing Prasad Kumar as the new Speaker." Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu also took charge of his office at the state secretariat in Hyderabad on Thursday. Gaddam Prasad Kumar from Vikarabad filed his nomination for the post of Assembly Speaker on Wednesday. CM Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu, other cabinet ministers, former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, along with other legislators were present as the Congress MLA filed his nomination for the Speaker's post. After being elected MLA, Akbaruddin Owaisi was picked as the pro-tem Speaker of the House. He administered the oath of office to the newly elected MLAs on December 9. However, all eight BJP MLAs refused to be read their oath by him, claiming that his appointment marked a violation of rules. The Congress won 64 seats in the recently concluded assembly polls while its ally CPI bagged one seat. The BRS bagged 39 seats while the BJP and AIMIM secured eight and seven seats respectively. Gaddam Prasad Kumar contested the Assembly polls for the first time in 2009. He fought on a Congress and won the Vikarabad Assembly constituency by a handsome margin. In 2012, he was inducted into the state cabinet led by then CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy as the minister for Handlooms and Textiles in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, after the state's bifurcation, he lost to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (which has since been rechristened as Bharat Rashtra Samithi) candidate B Sanjeev Rao. Also in the fray for the 2018 polls, he lost to M Anand of the BRS. Meanwhile, on Thursday, CM Revanth Reddy conducted a detailed review of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project, its expansion plans and the Airport Metro Project. The CM stated that since a major part of the city's population is in central and eastern parts and the Old City, the priority should have been to take the Airport Metro alignment through Old City from MGBS-Falaknuma and from LB Nagar area to serve a vast majority of commuters. CM Reddy also emphasised that the capital city should be developed and expanded equally in all directions, adding that Hyderabad has tremendous potential to be a global city with no geographical limitations.(ANI)
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