Patna, Feb. 18: Two days before the floor test, chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's camp today accused Nitish Kumar of allegedly encouraging horse-trading through a series of parties thrown by his camp.

Lawmakers loyal to Nitish have organised five back-to-back parties before the floor test. On Tuesday night, JDU MLC Vinod Kumar Singh had thrown a party and today RJD legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui organised a lunch at his official residence, which was attended by all MLAs backing Nitish (from JDU, RJD, Congress and CPI) and Nitish himself.

Manjhi's camp has alleged horse-trading at these parties. Senior leader and agriculture minister Narendra Singh said: 'The series of parties are nothing but an excuse to lure MLAs before the floor test. This kind of activity is against the morality and should be seen as horse-trading. It is purely being done to bribe MLAs. Nitish is scared of losing a good number of MLAs and that is why he is using such tactics.'

Compared to yesterday's party, today's (at Abdul Bari's place) had a more lavish touch to it. A chef had been brought from Calcutta to prepare mutton biryani, mutton korma, fish curry and chicken lazeez. For Nitish, who steers clear of rich food, special arrangements had been made with a chef at hotel Maurya. At night, the MLAs would attend another party, at senior JDU leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary's house.

This series of parties would come to an end at Nitish's 7 Circular Road residence after lunch at Ranju Geeta's residence tomorrow, on the eve of the show of strength in the Assembly on Friday.

Political observers say this back-to-back partying has been lined up for Nitish loyalists to keep his flock together.

But Manjhi's camp has accused Nitish of indulging in horse-trading through these parties.

Tekari MLA Arun Kumar, who belongs to Manjhi's camp, said: 'If Nitish is so confident that his MLAs are with him and would not switch sides, what is the need to throw parties one after another? I am surprised to see that the MLAs have been invited to attend parties from dawn to dusk. It clearly indicates the parties are being organised for the purpose of horse-trading.'

This season of dinners began on January 21 when former minister and MLA Shyam Rajak organised one at his official residence. Two more lawmakers threw a party soon after. The JDU leadership had still not declared Manjhi unattached.

Now, when there is clarity on who belongs to which camp, the dinner parties are as good as official affairs.

Not surprisingly, this is the first time the Manjhi camp is openly attacking and putting a question mark on parties Nitish loyalists are hosting.

Independent MLA from Dhaka Assembly seat Pawan Kumar Jaiswal, who belongs to the Manjhi camp, said throwing such parties would not bring any relief to Nitish and he would face defeat on the floor of the House on Friday.

Nitish's loyalists have their own logic. They say such parties are normal at the time of legislature party meetings and termed the Manjhi camp's allegations baseless.

Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who has thrown a party tonight, said: 'Narendra Singh must answer this. Was he not attending dinner parties during JDU legislature party meetings? So, was he being lured by Nitish? These are just baseless allegations. Their frustration is coming out on realising that they are going lose the trust vote.'