The 13th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, which was recently elected, session got underway on Wednesday.

Proceedings commenced with the House selecting a pro tem speaker who in turn administrated the oath of office to all the legislators.

K G Bopaiah, of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Kodagu district, was chosen as the pro tem speaker by the House.

He administered the oath first to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, followed by opposition leader in the House Mallikarjuna Kharge.

All the ministers in the Yeddyurappa cabinet were then administered the oath, which was followed by the rest of the MLAs. The oath ceremony is expected to carry on to Wednesday also.

The House decided to elect the speaker of the House on Thursday at 5 pm. The BJP has fielded Jagadish Shettar as its speaker candidate.

It seems as though the decision is likely to be unanimous as none of the parties have filed their nomination for the post of speaker as yet. Neither the Congress nor the Janata Dal-Secular have fielded any candidate for the post of speaker.

The BJP had a rough ride before fielding Shettar as the candidate.

Violence had broken out in various parts of northern Karnataka following the decision not to include Shettar into the Cabinet.

Shettar was then summoned to New Delhi where the high command coaxed him to take up the post, following which he agreed.