Tammineni Sitaram was unanimously elected Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Thursday, with the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members and the lone Janasena member supporting his candidature.

Pro-tem Speaker Sambangi Venkata China Appala Naidu declared the election of Sitaram in the Assembly session.

Thanking the members for electing him unanimously, Sitaram said that Andhra Pradesh should emerge as a trendsetter in implementing anti-defection law. He said that meaningful discussions should take place in the House and sought the cooperation of both the ruling and opposition parties.

Chief Minister Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy said the YSR Congress Party had selected Tammineni Sitaram in recognition of his long experience as legislator and Minister. Sitaram was elected as MLA for the sixth term. He served as minister thrice in the past.

Recollecting his experiences in the Assembly in the past, the Chief Minister said the Telugu Desam party resorted to horse-trading by illegally encouraging defection of 23 YSR Congress MLAS from the elected 67 MLAs without asking for their resignation and the then Speaker failed to disqualify them. The TDP government had made four of the defectors as ministers in the previous cabinet.

Jaganmohan Reddy said that since the TDP had encouraged defection of 23 MLAs, it was now left with only 23 MLAs. "God and people have punished the TDP for its misdeeds," he remarked.

Congratulating the newly-elected Speaker, Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu said that Tamineni Sitaram is the fourth one to get elected as Speaker from Srikakulam district. Earlier, K Lakshminarasimham Dora, T Satyanarayana and Pratibha Bharati from Srikakulam district served as Speakers of AP Assembly.

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