Patna, Feb. 14: Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary has convened an all-party meeting on Monday to decide on the 'sitting arrangement' in the Assembly on the day of trust motion beginning February 20.

Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi has asked the Manjhi government to seek a 'trust vote' in the Assembly on the opening day of the budget session on February 20 and asked the Speaker to conduct voting either through 'lobby division' or 'secret ballot'.

'An all-party meeting has been convened on Monday to decide the sitting arrangement in the House on the day of trust motion,' Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary said.

In his interview to The Telegraph published on Saturday (February 14), Uday had admitted that an 'unprecedented' situation had arisen after the ruling JDU staked claim to the post of 'Leader of Opposition' in the Assembly.

BJP's threat

The BJP today warned it would go to court if the Speaker decides to recognise the JDU's Vijay Kumar Choudhary as LOP. 'It would not only be unconstitutional, but also ridiculous. This means that JDU would be occupying both treasury and opposition benches... Trust motion or no confidence motion is brought against the council of ministers and not against the chief minister and hence except Manjhi, all ministers, technically, belong to the JDU,' senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav told reporters.

Drawing a comparison with the situation in 2000 when Nitish was sworn in as chief minister and given a week's time to prove majority, Nand Kishore said: 'Like in 2000, let there be voting first and then Speaker should take a call regarding the position of the party in the Assembly.' He added the JDU should wait for the 2015 election when people would give them the 'Opposition' slot.

Feb 18 decision

Asked whether or not it would support the Manjhi government, Nand Kishore said: 'Our position is clear. It is an internal fight of the JDU. We are keeping a close watch... We will talk about the party's strategy after its legislature party meeting scheduled on February 18.' He, however, refused to comment on the governor's directive to the Speaker to conduct voting through 'secret ballot'.

Mum on Manjhi

Nand Kishore dodged queries on the merits of Manjhi as chief minister or whether BJP is happy with his performance. 'We may not agree with Manjhi's work or his ideology but the fact is Nitish has written the script to bring disrepute to Manjhi and his government just to show that only he (Nitish) is an able administrator.'

Sushil slams Nitish

BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today said Nitish should seek a public apology for his unwanted 'offensive statements' against Governor Keshari Nath Triptahi. He said Nitish was in a hurry to become chief minister by surpassing all constitutional morality.

Nitish uploaded a 15-minute video on his Facebook page containing clippings of several news channels targeting the BJP for creating an 'unnecessary political crisis'.