Amid a huge row over the Punjab Governor withdrawing his assent to convene a special session of the state Assembly where the ruling government of the Aam Aadmi Party was planning to move a confidence motion to prove its majority in the House, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today convened a meeting of all party legislators in the state Assembly to discuss the party’s future course of action.

Following the meeting, which is currently underway, the Chief Minister has also called a meeting of the Punjab Cabinet, reported PTI. AAP AAP legislators will also take out a march later in the day, reported news agency PTI citing party sources.

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The move comes after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday withdrew his assent to summon a special Assembly session on Thursday to bring a “confidence motion”.

The Governor had given permission on September 20 for summoning the special session after two days, i.e, September 22, but withdrew the permission at the last minute, leaving AAP leaders fuming.

“How can the Governor refuse to convene a session called by the cabinet? Then, democracy is over. Two days ago, the Governor gave permission for the session. When it appeared that Operation Lotus started failing and they did not have the numbers, then instructions were issued from higher-ups asking to withdraw permission. Today, the country has a constitution on one side and Operation Lotus on the other,” AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said reacting to the development.

AAP had oft-repeated its ‘Operation Lotus’ jibe against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to allege attempts to poach its MLAs by the ruling party at the Centre.

In a communication to the Assembly secretariat, the Raj Bhavan had cited representations received from Opposition leaders against the special session, adding that the Governor has sought legal opinion about the “confidence motion”.

“This matter was examined and a legal opinion was sought from Sh. Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India. He has given his legal opinion that there is no specific provision regarding summoning of the Assembly for considering the “Confidence Motion” only in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business,” the letter signed by JM Balamurugan, principal secretary to Punjab Governor said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.

The Punjab cabinet had on Tuesday approved summoning a special session of the Assembly to prove its majority through a confidence motion in the Assembly under Article 174 (1) of the Constitution of India.

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Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had announced the one-day special session to table the confidence motion.

“Not allowing the assembly to run by the Governor raises big questions on the democracy of the country, Now, democracy will be run by the elected representatives of crores of people or a person appointed by the central government? BR Ambedkar’s constitution on one side, and Operation Lotus on the other. People are watching,” Mann wrote on Twitter following the withdrawal.

The Punjab BJP had earlier said that it would boycott the special session.