Mumbai, Jan 29: Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde stole the show for the BJP at the marathon meeting of the alliance partners' coordination committee as all the proposals moved by him were unanimously accepted while the decision on Shiv Sena's lone proposal of free power to farmers was left hanging fire. And here too, Munde had his way as his objections as the Energy Minister stalled Thackeray's pet plan once again.Besides Thackeray and Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan, the thrice postponed meeting of the inter-alliance coordination committee was attended by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Udhav Thackeray, state BJP President Suryabhan Wahadane, BJP general secretary Sharad Kulkarni and Munde.Munde moved three proposals restoring the retirement age of state government employees to 58 from 60, hiking the prices of cotton under the Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme and creating a separate department for nomadic tribes in Mantralaya. The Shiv Sena had recommended free power to thefarmers as declared by Thackeray.Much to the surprise of the senior BJP leaders, their proposals were accepted without much discussion, while a debate on providing free power to the farmers remained incomplete following basic objections raised by Munde.The coordination committee has now asked the alliance government to immediately move the proposal to reduce the retirement age to 58 years from 60 in the next cabinet meeting. ``In the forthcoming cabinet meeting, we will move the proposal for reducing the retirement age. It will come into force the moment it is approved by the cabinet and all those employees, who have crossed age of 58 will stand retired automatically. However, the decision will not be applicable to All India Service officials in the state,'' Joshi clarified after the meeting.BJP had lodged a strong protest when the retirement age was hiked to 60 years on May 30 last, saying, it would drastically reduced employment opportunities. It was also sore since it was not consulted by the Senabefore taking the major policy decision.On the hike in cotton prices, the coordination panel agreed in principle to the proposal of Munde, however final price of cotton was not fixed for want of further consultation and discussion. The committee, however left it to the cabinet to take an appropriate decision.On the controversial proposal of granting free power to the farmers, the coordination committee failed to take any decision as the discussion remained incomplete. ``We will take the decision at appropriate time. It will be discussed again in the next meeting of the coordination committee,'' Joshi said.Though Joshi declined to elaborate on the reasons for postponing the decision, according to a senior BJP leader, it was Munde's contention that the alliance government should make a budgetary provision of Rs 800 crore per year for the purpose that did the trick.The coordination committee also discussed two major issues - export of onions and demands of the junior college teachers. The committeeurged Mahajan to take the issue of export of onion with the Centre and secure a permission for the purpose on the lines granted to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.On teachers' demands, the committee authorised Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Deputy Chief Minister Munde to hold fresh discussion with the leaders of the striking teachers and then take a decision.
