A decision in this respect was taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Eknath Khadse, the senior BJP leader, who is also the leader of the opposition in the assembly.

Khadse took the stand that the opposition was not interested in the chief minister’s tea party in light of the Congress-NCP led government’s involvement in mafia regime, Adarsh housing and several others scams. At today’s opposition parties meeting the surprise element was the participation of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Bala Nandagaonkar. It was the wish of senior BJP leader and deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde who had repeatedly stressed that the MNS join the Shiv Sena–BJP saffron alliance.

It may be recalled that the Sena had taken a strong stand against the Jaitapur power plant project in Ratnagiri district, while the BJP had took a opposite stand and stated that it was not opposed to the nuclear project.

Khadse said: “We are not opposed to the nuclear project. However, we oppose the way the way and manner the nuclear project is being forcibly being imposed on the people."

MNS President Raj Thackeray has also taken a similar stand as the BJP. With the BJP and MNS distancing from the opposition to the nuclear project, the picture that emerges now is that the Sena is left alone facing battling the issue.

Meanwhile, it appears certain that the chief minister Chavan who has a image of “Mr. Clean” will be targeted by the Opposition in the budget session. Chavan is caught in the controversy relating to the appointment of sacked Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas and the serious allegations being leveled against him for furnishing wrong and misleading information for obtaining a flat from the state government quota.