Lucknow, Mar 23 (IANS): Senior legislator and former minister Ramapati Shastri has been appointed pro-tem Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative assembly by state Governor Anandiben Patel.

Ramapati Shastri, who defeated his rival SP's Ramesh Gautam by 42,396 votes in the Mankapur Assembly seat, will administer oath to the newly-appointed MLAs on Thursday.

Ramapati Shastri had served as the social welfare minister in the Adityanath government.

Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath will take oath of office on Friday.

BJP state vice president Salil Vishnoi said that the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Manipur and Goa will attend the function.

The Chief Ministers of all the states are being invited by the government.

The heads of various monasteries and temples will also be present at the swearing-in ceremony. All the leading industrialists who have set up and are operating industries in the state have also been invited.