The three leaders met at the residence of Rama Krushna Patnaik, the former leader of Opposition, whose sudden removal from the post by 15 of the 27 party Legislators on November 16 last had plunged the regional outfit into a crisis.

Though details of the discussions were not known, the trio are believed to have discussed the unification of the two BJD groups in the Assembly and election of a common leader.

Party sources said that the Legislature party meeting, to be attended by all the 27 MLAs, was likely to be convened by Monday where the party chief would be authorised to name a leader after consulting the legislators.

The BJD president Naveen Patnaik, who is also the Union Steel and Mines Minister, put off his return to Delhi for the fourth day today.

MLAs belonging to theloyalist camp attended the Assembly today for the first time since the winter session began on December 1 last. But the seat of the leader of Opposition remained vacant since Speaker Chintamani Dyan Samantara had withdrawn his recognition to Prafulla Samal, who belongs to the rebel camp.

Although the loyalist MLAs, recognised as BJD (B) by the Speaker, had demanded separate seating arrangement for their group yesterday, Rama Krushna Patnaik today accused the chair of interfering in the party's internal affairs.

He vehemently objected to the Speaker's action in recognising the two groups as BJD (A) and BJD (B) while pointing out that neither of the groups had sought such recognition from him. Patnaik requested the Speaker to reconsider his decision.

BJD (A) legislator, Panchanan Kanungo, however, disagreed with Patnaik's contention saying there was no ground for blaming the Speaker as he had unlimited powers to take decisions for the smooth conduct of the House.

After hectic political developments ofthe last 18 days, there was comparative lull today in the party. The rebel leader Mohapatra was not in the city while some other MLAs of his group also left for their constituencies.