Parties authorise Speaker to decide seatings for February 20 vote

PATNA: The all-party meet, convened by Bihar Legislative Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary today to discuss seating arrangement during the February 20 confidence vote on Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, authorised him to take relevant decision on the issue, amid walkout by BJP.

Senior JD(U) leader and former Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said: "The Speaker has full authority to decide about seating arrangement in the Assembly and he should exercise it. We will go by whsatever he orders."

"BJP was present at the meeting. Its senior leader Nand Kishore Yadav's stand was surprising. He spoke whatever he had in his mind and then left saying he was boycotting it. We didn't even understand his purpose," the minister said.

RJD Legislature Party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who also attended the meet, said his party has requested the Speaker to issue the list of party position and seating arrangement when the Assembly meets for the Budget Session and confidence motion on Manjhi.

"Who will be the leader of the House and who will sit in the opposition should be told by the Speaker," Siddiqui said.

Meanwhile, Yadav, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said the BJP has boycotted the all-party meet as the "Assembly office is working more like a JD(U) office".

"The Speaker is hell bent on ordering that JD(U) sits in the treasury, as well as, opposition benches both. How can this happen? It will be an unprecedented incident. The Assembly office is working more like a JD(U) office and Constitutional processes have been discarded," Yadav said.

The BJP leader added that his party has already moved court fearing that such a situation may arise and has "requested the Speaker to wait for the judiciary's decision on the matter".

Yadav also pointed out the chief whip of JD(U) Rajeev Ranjan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brishin Patel were not invited to the all-party meet.