Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao got a rousing reception when he entered the House after a gap of 10 years to attend the first session of Telangana Legislative Assembly on Monday.
Members cutting across party lines greeted Mr Rao, who was the first to take oath as member of the Telangana Assembly. Mr Rao went up to the floor leaders of all parties and greeted them personally. Pro-tem Speaker K. Jana Reddy administered the oath to the MLAs-elect.
Mr Rao, however, seemed upset with the poor arrangements made by the Assembly staff. No chair had been arranged for the members to sit and sign the Assembly register after taking oath.
As per Assembly conventions, members take the oath standing and facing the Speaker. Thereafter, they approach the Speaker’s chair, greet him and come down to sign the register, which they do sitting.
There was no chair for Mr Rao to sit. Visibly angry, he asked for a chair and the officials arranged it in a minute. Later, all the members used the chair and signed the register.
With the number of MLAs coming down to 119 from 294 after bifurcation, the House witnessed many empty benches. Not even three rows could be filled either in the Treasury or Opposition benches.
The absence of stalwart leaders from the previous united state Assembly like Mr Chandrababu Naidu, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana among others was felt.
