First session of third Telangana Assembly to begin on Saturday

As per the schedule, AIMIM MLA Asaduddin Owaisi has been appointed as the Pro-tem Speaker and will be sworn-in by the Governor at Raj Bhavan at 8.30 am.

Hyderabad: The first session of the third Telangana State Legislative Assembly is all set to begin on Saturday. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan officially summoned the third Telangana Legislative Assembly for its inaugural session which is scheduled for 11:00 am on Saturday at the Assembly Hall in Public Gardens.

“I, Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana, hereby summon the third Telangana Legislative Assembly to meet for its First Session at 11.00 am on Saturday, December 9, 2023 in the Assembly Hall, Public Gardens, Hyderabad,” a notification issued by Raj Bhavan said.

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As per the schedule, AIMIM MLA Asaduddin Owaisi has been appointed as the Pro-tem Speaker and will be sworn-in by the Governor at Raj Bhavan at 8.30 am. After the session begins at 11 am, the Pro-tem Speaker will administer the oath for all the 119 MLAs in the Assembly.

Of total 119 MLAs in the State Assembly, the 64-member Congress party will be led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. With 39 MLAs, the BRS is likely to be designated as main opposition party and also secure the chairman’s post of Public Accounts Committee as per established practices. The rest of the members include eight BJP MLAs, seven AIMIM MLAs and one CPI MLA.

After the swearing-in ceremony, the Assembly is likely to elect Vikarabad MLA Gaddam Prasad Kumar as the new Speaker. The Congress leadership is learned to have already proposed his name for the post. A Dalit leader from Congress, Prasad was elected as MLA in 2009 for the first time and served as a Minister in the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He lost the next two consecutive elections in 2014 and 2018, but secured victory in the recent Assembly polls.

Later, the Governor will address the House. The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting chaired by the Speaker will decide the number of business days for the Assembly during this session.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari and DGP Ravi Gupta along with other officials oversaw the arrangements including security at the Assembly. They directed the officials to strictly follow the prohibitory orders. Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Sandeep Shandilya has issued an orders prohibiting any assembly or public meeting that may cause disturbance to the public order within a radius of four kilometres of the Telangana Legislative Assembly. This prohibition is in effect from the 6 am on December 9 and will continue until the conclusion of the Legislative Assembly and Council sessions. Walkers have been restricted from venturing in the Public Gardens after 7 am.