PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is likely win the trust vote he is scheduled to seek in the assembly on Wednesday.

The JD (U) and its supporting parties RJD and Congress have issued whip to their MLAs to vote for Nitish.

"Any MLA including the rebel ones led by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi who violates the whip will be disqualified within hours," JD (U) chief whip and parliamentary affairs minister Shrawan Kumar said on Tuesday.

"Manjhi has a separate sitting arrangement. He is technically an unattached JD (U) MLA and bound by the party whip. Action will be taken against Manjhi or others if they remain absent during voting," Shrawan said.

There are 110 JD (U) members excluding speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary in the 243-member assembly with effective strength of 233. RJD and Congress have 24 and 5 MLAs respectively while CPI has one MLA. The 87-member BJP which had decided to support Manjhi in the February 20 floor test that never took place may walk out of the House.

Manjhi and his 10-odd supporting JD (U) MLAs are in catch-22 situation. Manjhi may abstain fearing humiliation but many of his supporters may vote in favour of Nitish as they won't like to lose either the Rs 2 crore MLA fund due in April for their area's development or a legislator's privileges till the election in November this year.

Manjhi revolted against Nitish who had relinquished his CM's chair and seated him in his place after the JD (U) debacle in the Lok Sabha election in May last year. Manjhi refused to attend the February 7 meeting called by party president Sharad Yadav to elect Nitish as the leader of the JD (U) legislature party which expelled its own CM and declared him an 'unattached' member in the assembly.

Manjhi quit as CM an hour before the floor test on February 20 and floated his Hindustani Avam Morcha on February 28. Nitish annulled the 34 decisions taken by his predecessor in the three cabinet meetings held since February 7.

Chaudhary said matters related to voting would be decided according to rules. "I will decide whether there will be voice vote or lobby division during the floor test. This will be the last budget session of the 15th House and the Nitish government will seek trust vote soon after governor Keshari Nath Tripathi's address to a joint session of the assembly and legislative council," he said.

Regarding seating arrangement for Manjhi, Chaudhary said, "He (Manjhi) will be given a place near the treasury benches. He has been declared an unattached member of the House but he has not given anything to me in writing that he wants to oppose the government or wants to sit somewhere else. So, we will consider him as a JD (U) member."

Regarding the disqualified JD (U) members Gyanendra Singh Gyanoo, Neeraj Kumar Babloo, Ravindra Rai and Rahul Kumar, the Speaker said they would not be allowed to attend the budget session as the assembly secretariat had not yet issued any notification pending appeal in the HC against the decision of a single bench to restore their membership.