However, announcing the decision after a special cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi said "along with the advice of the Centre, we felt that if the organisers were permitted to stage the play, it will adversely affect the law and order situation in the metropolis as well as in the entire state." Before taking the decision, the government considered the opinion of the legal department and also the report of the Commissioner of Police, Joshi said, adding, steps were also afoot to withdraw the certificate granted for the play by the Stage Performance and Scrutiny Board.

Though the government'sdecision goes against the stand taken by Thackeray, it is being seen here as a clever ploy in which the Sena chief is propagating the party's stance while the government is abiding by the Centre's advice. Lending credence to this theory is the statement published in the party mouthpiece Saamna today in which Thackeray has observed that only because Congress MPs raised a hue and cry, the Centre took the decision to tender the advice to Maharashtra Government.

"This is not proper and if there is something objectionable in the play, it can be censored," he felt.

Expressing surprise at Centre's move, he pointed out that the same play had been enacted 50 to 60 times on Gujarati stage. "Why was the performance not prohibited then," he wondered.

Talking about his meeting with the Sena chief, Joshi said he informed Thackeray about the decision of the government. "I told about him the need to abide by the advice of the Centre. At the same time, I informed him that the play will have an adverse impact onthe law and order situation in the metropolis," Joshi added.

However,Joshi rejected the demand for dismissal of the board Chairman and Shiv Sena legislator Shantaram Nandgaonkar, saying, there was no substance in the demand. "We do not want to intervene in the functioning of the autonomous board," Joshi quipped.

The Chief Minister however agreed to the suggestion that the existing system of granting certificate was faulty. "There is a need to change the existing practice as at the moment, the certificate is given on the basis of an individual and there is no role of the entire board in the process. I feel that the board should be made more accountable and it should change its style of functioning. It should carefully apply its mind on controversial dramas," Joshi added.

When asked if he will view the play, Joshi said since his government has prohibited it, it will be improper to see it. When his attention was drawn to the caveat filed by the producers of the play before the high court, Joshi said he wasnot aware of any such move. "I am not aware of the caveat filed by them. In the event the court passes any order, it will be binding on us," he said.