Pro-Tem Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi administered the oath of the newly elected MLAs in the Assembly today. Usually, in the absence of the Speaker, the Pro-tem Speaker will administer the oath every time after the elections.
Normally, the Senior-most MLA of the Opposition will get to become the Pro-Tem Speaker as per the tradition.
The MLA who won most elections will be preferred. Accordingly, by winning nine elections, KCR should have been the choice but the Former Chief Minister ruled out himself after he was admitted to the hospital for Surgery.
After KCR, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy is the second Senior-most MLA from the Opposition. But then, Pocharam already worked as the Speaker. Asking him to be the Pro-tem Speaker is a kind of demotion. So, the Government did not consider his name.
Harish Rao should be the next choice having won seven elections and that with huge majorities. But Chief Minister Revanth Reddy ignored him and gave the offer to Akbaruddin Owaisi who won only six times.
The plan is to keep BRS leaders away from important assignments and at the same time, Revanth Reddy also wants cordial relations with the MIM.
With this move, both purposes are served.
