Hyderabad, Dec 13 (IANS): Senior Congress MLA Gaddam Prasad Kumar is set to be elected unopposed to the Telangana Assembly Speaker’s post.

He filed the nomination on Wednesday and as he is the only person to file his nomination for the post, his election on Thursday will only be a formality.

The main Opposition party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has also extended support to Kumar.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, some ministers, BRS working president KT Rama Rao and CPI MLA K Sambasiva Rao were present when Kumar filed the nomination before the Legislature Secretary. KT Rama Rao also signed the nomination papers of Kumar.

Protem Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi will announce the unanimous election of Kumar as the Speaker.

On December 9, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered oath to Akbaruddin Owaisi as the Protem Speaker of the Assembly.

About 100 MLAs including the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and ministers had taken oath before him.

All eight MLAs of the BJP and remaining MLAs of other parties will take oath before the Speaker on Thursday.

The Congress won 64 seats in the recently-concluded Assembly polls and formed the government on December 7. It had announced the name of Kumar as the Speaker the same day.

A Dalit leader, Kumar has been selected keeping his vast experience in view. Elected from Vikarabad constituency in the recent elections, Prasad had served as a minister in the Congress government in united Andhra Pradesh. He will be the third Assembly Speaker after the formation of Telangana. S. Madhusudhana Chary was the first Speaker while he was succeeded by Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.

After the election of the Speaker, the Assembly will take up the election of Deputy Speaker. The Congress party is likely to name Parkal MLA Revuri Prakash Reddy as the Deputy Speaker. Prakash Reddy, a senior legislator, had quit the BJP to join the Congress party a few days before the election. He was with the TDP before joining BJP.