Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal slammed the BJP on Sunday after its MLAs boycotted the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected legislators in Telangana over AIMIM's Akbaruddin Owaisi being made pro-tem speaker, saying such "public expression of hate" makes him wonder where the country is heading.

The first session of the third Telangana Legislative Assembly began on Saturday with the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected MLAs.

The BJP MLAs, however, stayed away from the House, alleging that AIMIM MLA Owaisi was appointed as pro-tem speaker in violation of rules.

In a post on X, Sibal said, "Telangana, Protem Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi -- 8 BJP MLAs boycott oath. Such public expression of hate makes me wonder where my country is heading!" "Is this the Mother of Democracy we publicly proclaim to be!" the former Union minister said.

Before the commencement of the Telangana Assembly session, Owaisi was administered the oath by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan as the pro-tem speaker at the Raj Bhavan and he presided over the proceedings in the House.

Union Minister and the BJP's Telangana unit chief G Kishan Reddy has alleged that Owaisi was appointed as pro-tem speaker though there were other senior members in the House.

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