Row brews as Sircar overrides whips' plan............

Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar Saturday gave a new twist to the ongoing row over seat arrangements, overriding the government whips' decision ahead of the inaugural sitting of the new parliament Sunday afternoon.

"The arrangement proposed by the chief whip proved to be wrong and it was righted by the Speaker," Sircar, the outgoing Speaker who belongs to Opposition BNP but will not have a seat in new parliament, told us Saturday afternoon.

Treasury whips proposed that the leader of the opposition be seated as usual but only with two other colleagues on the front bench, which is to the left of the Speaker, and the other four-party members in columns forming behind the three front-benchers.

A senior BNP leader, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, said Friday that the government whips' plan was "unacceptable" that it flouted parliamentary convention.

The ruling Awami League spokesperson, minister Syed Ashraful Islam, said the parliamentary convention usually followed the ratio of MPs.

"A final decision will be taken at the AL parliamentary party meeting. BNP has yet to appoint chief whip. This is an issue usually discussed at the whips' level," the minister told us Saturday.

The Speaker on Saturday overruled the whips' plan and ordered the front 10 seats to his left be given to the opposition bench led by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The chief whip said he was far from being pleased with the decision.

"By acting unilaterally, the Speaker has shown disrespect for the treasury bench and the leader of the House," Abdus Shahid told us at his office. "He could have invited us for discussion."

The second row of 12 seats to the left of the Speaker will also go the opposition members, then five seats each in the third and fourth rows, according to the Sircar plan.

Two other chairs have been kept vacant for opposition members should they get elected to seats given up by the top three leaders in by-polls.

LDP's Oli Ahmed, according to the arrangement made by the Speaker, will get a seat on the front bench, and has been given the 10th chair to the left of the Speaker. Behind him will be BJP's Andalib Rahman.

The treasury bench whips argued that they allocated three out of 29 front bench seats to the opposition based on their total number of MPs.

BNP now has 28 MPs, allies Jamaat-e-Islami 2 and BJP 1.

Syed Ashraf pointed out that the Jatiya Party got almost equal number of seats.

The Speaker cited the clauses 7 and 316 of the Rules of Procedure to impose his decisions on the government whips.