The first session of the 16th Madhya Pradesh assembly began here on Monday with pro-tem speaker Gopal Bhargava welcoming the newly-elected members to the house and starting the process of administering them oath.

The four-day winter session commenced nearly a week after a new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Chief Minister Mohan Yadav took office.

At the outset, the pro-tem speaker informed the house about the Congress electing senior MLA Umang Singhar as its legislature party leader, making him the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the assembly, a cabinet-level post.

Yadav congratulated Singhar on his new appointment and said he looks forward to getting help from the opposition in taking the state's development to new heights.

Singhar, a former minister, thanked Yadav and treasury benches, and assured them that the opposition would play a constructive role inside and outside the assembly.

Thereafter, Yadav, Singhar, deputy chief ministers Jagdish Devda, Rajendra Shukla, former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Prahlad Patel and Jayant Maliya (all four from BJP) and Ajay Singh (Congress) took oath as MLAs of 16th assembly.

The BJP has nominated senior leader and former Union minister Tomar for the post of the assembly speaker.

The saffron outfit had fielded Tomar and Patel, a Union minister till recently, and its general secretary Vijayvargiya in the November 17 assembly polls.

Oath taking by the new MLAs is likely to continue throughout Tuesday as well. On the third day (December 20), the house will elect a regular speaker.

Of the 230 new legislators, Congress's Kamal Nath, elected from Chhindwara, is not attending the session. The former chief minister, who was replaced as the state Congress president a few days ago, has taken leave from the house.

On December 3, the ruling BJP recorded a thumping victory in Madhya Pradesh by winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly. The Congress, which had bagged 114 seats in 2018, notched up victories in just 66 segments, while Bharat Adivasi Party candidate Kamleshwar Dodiyar pocketed the Sailana constituency.

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