Telangana's pro tem Speaker sworn in

: Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan Wednesday administered the oath of office to senior AIMIM MLA from Charminar assembly constituency Mumtaz Ahmed Khan as pro tem Speaker of the Telangana assembly.

State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and senior officials of the government were present during the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan.

The pro-tem speaker would administer the oath to members of the assembly on January 17, when its four-day session begins.

On the same day, the schedule for the Speaker's election would be announced following which the nomination process would commence, an official press release said.

The announcement on the election result would take place the next day.

Later, the assembly proceedings would continue with the newly-elected Speaker, the release added.

Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh had said he would not take oath in the presence of Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, the pro tem Speaker, because the AIMIM allegedly speaks against the Hindus.

The lone BJP legislator from Goshamahal had said he would take oath only after the regular speaker takes over.

The party position in the 120-member assembly is TRS-88, INC-19, AIMIM-7, TDP-2, independent-1, AIFB-1, BJP-1 and nominated-1.