First session of Telangana State Assembly from January 17

HYDERABAD:  January 17 will be a special day for all those who were elected to the State Assembly in the recent elections. The first session of the State Assembly will commence from that day, ending nearly month-long suspense over when they would be sworn in as legislators.

The process for commencement of the first session of the Assembly will begin  on Wednesday itself with MIM MLA Mumtaz Ahmed Khan being sworn in as  protem speaker by Governor ESL Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan.

The newly elected MLAs would take oath on the first day of the Assembly session. On the next day, election of the Speaker will be held. The Governor will address the joint session of Legislative Council and Assembly on Jan 19 and the House will take up motion of thanks the following day. The session is likely to end on Jan 20. 

Though several names are doing the rounds for the post of Speaker,  no official clue has emerged from the ruling party on who would occupy the coveted post. The names of Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, A Indra Karan Reddy, M Padma Devender Reddy, E Rajender and DS Redya Naik have been doing the rounds among political circles.

According to sources,  Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday held discussions with the party leaders at Pragathi Bhavan on the  posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Though there has been a talk that Rao may take up the first expansion of the State Cabinet on January 18, the ruling party neither confirmed nor denied the possibility.

Normally, the Assembly session may not be conducted with the Legislative Affairs Minister but in the present cabinet, there is no minister for legislative affairs. He is also keen on appointing around six Parliamentary Secretaries. At least 33 MLAs of 90 ruling party MLAs are expected to get one or the other post, even if they are not inducted into the Cabinet. Meanwhile, Legislative Council Chairman K Swami Goud reviewed the security arrangements for the Assembly session with DGP M Mahender Reddy.