Hyderabad: Amidst controversy in Telangana regarding the selection of AIMIM's Akbaruddin Owaisi as the pro-tem Speaker of the newly elected Assembly, Congress leader and state minister Uttam Kumar Reddy has defended the decision, stating that it is a "normal procedure."

"It (the appointment of Akbaruddin Owaisi as the pro-tem Speaker) is a normal procedure, and the Congress party did what was the right thing to do," he told the media. "Going by seniority in the Assembly, I should have been the pro-tem Speaker, the senior most MLA in the Congress party, but since I have taken an oath as a minister, the procedure didn’t allow me to be a pro-tem Speaker. So then we looked at other 6-term MLAs, the most senior MLAs. Akbaruddin Owaisi is the most senior MLA among all the parties. So, it is a normal procedure," he further explained to the media. Reddy continued to defend the appointment of Owaisi, stating that it was a normal procedure followed even during the previous BRS government. He also emphasized that the decision was made based on what was right, not due to any external factors.

"When the BRS government was there last time, they had an AIMIM MLA as the pro-tem Speaker. This has nothing to do with anything else. We did what was the right thing to do. I cannot comment on the future equation with AIMIM. That’s for our state leadership to discuss with everybody. And also for our national leadership to discuss and give us direction," Telangana Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said.

The BJP in Telangana has objected to the appointment of Owaisi as the pro-tem Speaker of the Assembly. On Saturday, party MLAs boycotted the AIMIM leader's oath-taking ceremony, stating that there were several leaders who were senior to Owaisi and also called his appointment a breach of procedure. The oath-taking ceremony was organized on the first day of the Assembly session headed by Owaisi.

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