Patna, Feb. 16: The BJP and the Jitan Ram Manjhi camp today knocked on the door of the high court, seeking its intervention in the role of the Speaker before the floor test of the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led state government in the Assembly on Friday.

The BJP moved the court challenging the Speaker's alleged move to accord the status of the main opposition party to the JDU. Cabinet minister Vinay Bihari, a Manjhi loyalist, filed a separate petition requesting the court to keep the Speaker, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, at bay from the entire procedure of the trust vote on February 20.

Bihari accused the Speaker of adopting a partisan approach while dealing with the current political crisis in the state. 'He filed the plea to put a check on Chaudhary's actions,' said a Manjhi loyalist.

BJP leader Sudhir Sharma, on the other hand, claimed in his petition that though the chief minister was an unattached member of the House, his ministers belonged to his parent party - the JDU. 'Technically, the JDU, with its members in Manjhi's council, is the ruling party. But it is vying for the status of the main opposition party, which is contradictory in nature,' his petition stated.

Besides moving the court challenging the JDU's bid to be the main opposition party, the BJP today lambasted Nitish Kumar. The party's state president, Mangal Pandey, accused Nitish of planning to create a 'ruckus' in the Assembly on the day of the trust vote.

'By expressing doubt that there would be ruckus in the Assembly, Nitish has given an ample indications to create a pandemonium in the House. I have a serious apprehension that the JDU legislators would create ruckus on February 20,' Pandey said.

'The end of Nitish's political career was scripted the day he started dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister and now his script for the future political course of action is being written by Lalu Prasad, Mohammad Shahabuddin and Anant Singh,' said Pandey.

Reacting to the high court direction restraining the Manjhi government from taking any further policy decisions, Pandey said: 'We respect the high court order. He, however, ruled out any imminent possibility of the imposition of President's Rule in the state.'

Contempt plea

Ravindra Rai, a disqualified MLA, on Monday filed a contempt petition in the high court alleging that he was not allowed to enter the Assembly on February 11 despite his membership being restored.