The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeem (AIMIM) MLA Akbarudin Owaisi on Saturday took oath as pro-tem speaker of the newly-elected Telangana State Assembly. Governor Tamilsai Soundararajan took the oath to him at Raj Bhavan at a ceremony attended by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and speaker of previous assembly Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.

Owaisi who took the oath in the name of Allah, will later administer oath to newly elected members of the House. Ministers D.Sridhar Babu, Tummala Nageshwara Rao, Seethakka , former minister and BRS leader T Harish Rao and other attended the ceremony. According to a notification issued by Governor, Owaisi will perform the duties of the speaker till a speaker is elected under Article 178 of the constitution of India.

Being the senior most member of the assembly, the AIMIM legislator has been appointed as the Pro-tem speaker. In 2018, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan was made protem speaker. In the just concluded state elections he was elected from Chandrayangutta constituency in Hyderabad for a sixth consecutive term. This is the second consecutive time that a MLA of AIMIM has been appointed as Protem speaker. In 2018, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan was made protem Speaker.

The Pro-tem Speaker serves a temperory role, officiating the assembly session until the-elected members are sworn in and a speaker is elected. Once the assembly speaker is elected, the pro-tem speaker’s duties end, which marks the beginning of regular legislative activities under the new leadership.

Telanagana BJP today boycotted the oath ceremony for the newly elected MLAs, objecting to AIMIM’s Akbaruddin Owaisi being appointed Protem Speaker of the state assembly. The Pro-tem speaker is tasked with administering oath to the new legislators.

BJP MLA T Raja Singh, who won from Goshamahal in last month’s assembly elections, said in a video message that he would never take oath as long as he is alive in front of AIMIM. He said he would take oath only after a full term speaker is appointed.

In connection with the ISIS conspiracy investigation, the National Investigation Agency raided 44 places in Karnataka and Maharashtra and detained 13 people from Pune.

Of these 44 sites, two were in Pune, 31 in Thane Rural, 9 in Thane City, 1 in Mira Bhayander, and 1 in Karnataka.

The case concerns a criminal conspiracy that the accused and their allies, who established a terror gang and vowed allegiance to the violent ideology of ISIS, planned.

Just one month ago, the national agency in the Pune Module submitted a chargesheet against seven people who were part of an ISIS-related conspiracy. The accused participated in the terror outfit’s fund-raising and collection efforts with the goal of advancing its violent and terror-related activities.

It was discovered that the defendants had set up terrorist training camps, harboured known and wanted terrorists, and had committed crimes before IEDs were invented. They were also discovered to be in possession of ammo, guns, and IEDs.

The Indian Penal Code, the Explosives Substances Act, the Arms Act, and the UAPA Act all have different sections that address the allegations.

Shahnawaz Alam, an Islamic State (IS) terrorist sought by the NIA in relation to the Pune ISIS module case, was apprehended by the Delhi Police in October.

Alam was taken into custody a few days after the NIA offered him a Rs 3 lakh reward. In the follow-up action, Arshad Warsi and Mohammad Rizwan, two other accused terrorists, were also taken into custody. Alam, an engineer by trade, was discovered to be in possession of a chemical substance, which was taken, according to an official.

Regarding the case, the NIA claimed to have taken evidence against Shamil Saquib Nachan from his Thane district home in August, when he was apprehended.

The NIA had earlier filed its first supplementary chargesheet against nine Karnataka residents in connection with an alleged ISIS plot to conduct terror acts throughout India.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed the BJP over Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha after a debate on the cash-for-query allegations. She said the move was unacceptable and betrayed India’s parliamentary democracy.

Talking to the media, Banerjee said she felt sad to see the attitude of the BJP. She questioned how the BJP can betray parliamentary democracy. She said the BJP did not even allow Mahua to explain her stand in the House. She added full injustice had been done to the expelled MP.

Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress stands in full support of Moitra. She said the BJP could not defeat the Trinamool in elections, so they have resorted to vendetta politics. She said Moitra will return to Parliament with a bigger mandate. Banerjee said the BJP thought it can do whatever it wants as they have a brute majority. She added that a day will come when the BJP will not be in power.

After her expulsion from the Lok Sabha, Moitra told reporters outside Parliament that said will fight it out over the next 30 years inside and outside Parliament, inside the gutter and on the streets. She accused the BJP of hating Muslims and women. She claimed Adani was buying all of India’s ports and airports. She said Adani shareholders are foreign investors and the Home Ministry was giving them clearance to buy India’s infrastructure.

Reacting to her expulsion, Moitra said there was no evidence of any cash, any gifts anywhere. She said she had been expelled for sharing her Lok Sabha portal login. She said there are no rules governing the sharing of logins. She said tomorrow the CBI will be sent to her house and she is going to be harassed for the next six months.

Many Opposition parties have supported Moitra over the way she was expelled without getting a chance to put forth her stand.