NEW DELHI, OCT 14: The Atal Behari Vajpayee Government suffered rumblings of discontent on its very first day in office as all the three Shiv Sena Ministers refused to take charge of office, endangering their alliance with the BJP, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.The BJP immediately launched a massive damage-control exercise with party president Kushabhau Thakre and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani speaking to Sena chief Bal Thackeray this afternoon.Earlier, Heavy Industries Minister Manohar Joshi, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State for Finance Bala Saheb Vikhe Patil boycotted their respective offices, apparently on instructions of Bal Thackeray on a day when the newly-sworn Ministers were assuming office under media glare.Thackeray was incensed with BJP's Maharashtra leader Gopinath Munde for the latter's claim over chief ministership and his reported parleys with National Congress leaders to whip up support for the alliance, without taking the Sena into confidence.Thackeray was so angry at Munde's `antics' that he threatened to break the 15-years old alliance with the BJP. He sarcastically suggested the BJP to form a coalition Government with NCP which Sena would support from outside. He also instructed his party Ministers at the Centre not to join office till the issue was resolved. ``BJP was free to play its own politics, forge alliance with any party and make anyone the chief minister'', Thackeray said on Wednesday.The situation was further aggravated with the Sena mouthpiece, Dophar ka Saamna, claiming that the three ministers may resign from the Vajpayee Cabinet due to the discord. The Sena may decide to extend outside support to BJP-led government at the Centre and serious discussions within the Sena camp were on whether its Ministers should resign, the Hindi eveninger said.Joshi and Prabhu were huddled into a meeting at the latter's Ashoka Road house till noon before calling on Advani for half-an-hour. They then took an afternoon flight for Mumbai for further discussions with Thackeray.Patil denying any instructions from the "supremo" about resigning from the office, said he had not taken charge today as he was awaiting word on the department he had been allotted in the Finance Ministry.Senior BJP leaders here claimed that Thackeray had been pacified by Advani and Thakre who had asked Munde to avoid issuing press statements or holding talks with NCP. Thackeray too had reportedly hauled up Munde. They termed the article in today's Sena mouthpiece as only a pressure tactics to make the BJP desist from holding parleys with the NCP.The BJP-Sena alliance was short of majority in Maharashtra Assembly by 20 MLAs and needed NCP's support to come to power. The stalemate is because NCP wants to have its own chief minister in lieu of lending support to the alliance which was not acceptable to Shiv Sena, BJP leaders claimed.The NCP was opposed to join the government under a Sena chief minister while Thackeray was against doing any business with the NCP having Sena-defector Chhagan Bhujbal in the government. ``This was why Munde suggested that the alliance could have a BJP chief minister. The idea was opposed by Sena as it breached BJP-Sena agreement on the party having more MLAs to head the State government,'' BJP leaders said.BJP's Petroleum Minister Ram Naik however, hoped that the Sena Ministers would soon return and join their offices in a day or two. Talking to the The Indian Express, he scotched rumours of boycotting office today in support of his Sena colleagues.
