The maiden session of the Telangana Assembly commenced here on Monday with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao leading the newly-elected members in taking oath as MLAs. They were administered the oath by Pro tem Speaker K. Jana Reddy, the senior-most member of the House.
For Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, it was returning to the Assembly after a gap of 10 years, during which he served as the Lok Sabha member from Karimnagar and Mahabubnagar including serving as the Union Minister for the initial two years. He was among the first members to enter the House before the commencement of the session at 11 am.
The Chief Minister was administered oath by the Pro tem Speaker immediately after the national anthem was played. His gesture of going to the opposition benches immediately after greeting the Pro tem Speaker ensured that the first session of the Telangana Assembly took off in a cordial atmosphere. Cabinet colleagues of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao – Dr. T. Rajaiah, E. Rajender, G. Jagadish Reddy, J. Ramanna, K.T. Rama Rao, P. Mahender Reddy, P. Srinivas Reddy, T. Padma Rao and T. Harish Rao took the oath after him in that order before other members were administered the oath in the alphabetical order. In all, 116 members were administered the oath before the House was adjourned for the day.
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The three members who did not take oath include Pro tem Speaker K. Jana Reddy, who was administered oath by Governor in Raj Bhavan earlier in the day, and MIM members Akbaruddin Owaisi and Mumtaz Ahmed Kham. MIM sources stated that the two members were away on foreign trips.