Gaddam Prasad Kumar of Congress unanimously elected Telangana Assembly Speaker

Hyderabad: Ruling Congress MLA Gaddam Prasad Kumar was unanimously elected Speaker of the Telangana Assembly, interim Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi announced on Thursday.

Kumar had earlier filed nomination for the post.

“…Shri Gaddam Prasad Kumar has been unanimously elected to the post of Speaker,” Owaisi announced while congratulating the former.

After the announcement of the interim Speaker, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and his deputy Bhatti Vikramarka and BRS MLA KT Rama Rao will escort him to the Speaker’s chair.

All the members of the Chamber reached out to the Chairman and congratulated the new Chairman.

After Kumar took charge, Revanth Reddy appealed to all parties to support his candidature.

Except BJP, all other parties in the assembly (BRS, AIMIM and CPI) supported the candidature of Prasad Kumar.

Revanth Reddy, his cabinet colleague, BRS acting president Rama Rao, AIMIM MLA and CPI’s lone MLA Kunnamneni Sambasiva Rao were present when Prasad Kumar’s nomination was presented to the legislature secretary.

The Legislature Secretary had earlier said that nominations would be accepted between 10:30 and 17:00 on Wednesday, while elections would be held on Thursday.

Prasad Kumar, MLA from Vikarabad (SC), had served as a minister during the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh state.

Meanwhile, Owaisi administered oath to some newly elected MLAs, including ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and N Uttam Kumar Reddy and BRS’s Rama Rao.

However, BJP MLAs continued the arguments in the House and claimed that Owaisi had been nominated in violation of rules.

In the recently concluded assembly elections, Congress got 64 seats and before the elections, its ally CPI got 1 seat. BRS got 39 votes, while its “party friend” AIMIM won by seven votes. BJP won both the seats.