A senior Bharatiya Janata Party minister in Joshi's Cabinet told The Indian Express that Thackeray was "officially" informed that the State was in no position to provide free power to the farmers-definitely not in the current financial year (i.e. till April next year).

Though the minister, who did not want to be named, said that if Thackeray insists, the government might make an attempt to oblige him in the next financial year, it became clear that Thackeray's commitment to farmers would merely remain on paper at least till then, given the State's precarious financial condition.

Said the minister:``It will not be possible to provide free power to 22 lakh farmers as desired byThackeray.'' This means, the Sena chief's ``commitment'' would have no meaning for the farmers in the coming crop season.

The Minister said Thackeray has been specifically told that it was the considered opinion of all the concerned departments that his proposal be put off till the next year.

An indication that Thackeray may have conveyed this message-and understood it-was evident yesterday at the farmers' rally when he merely said that he would ``insist'' on providing free power in sharp contrast to his October 1 speech ``directing'' Chief Minister Manohar Joshi to issue orders to the effect. The escape route for Thackeray, of course, is that he had not given a time-frame for implementing his promise.

Understandably, the issue of providing free power to farmers is not even on the agenda of the special Cabinet being held at Nagpur on Tuesday. ``By and large, the meeting has been devoted for the pending issues of Vidarbha,'' the minister said. On October 1 as well as yesterday, Thackeray had said thatthe alliance government should provide free power to the farmers since they were directly responsible for bringing the saffron brigade to power.

Against this, the Finance Department headed by Finance Minister Mahadevrao Shivankar and Energy Department headed by Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde had both made it clear that in view of the poor financial health of the State, it would not be possible to concede Thackeray's orders.

``Following the implementation of the recommendation of the Fifth Pay Commission, the government has already been overburdened and under such circumstances, if free power is given to the farmers, then the alliance government will have to drastically cut the plan size,'' the BJP Minister pointed out.

The Minister reiterated that if the decision is implemented with immediate effect, then the government would have to carry an additional burden of Rs 2,350 crore: Rs 650 crore towards arrears, Rs 750 crore towards the energy bills for the current year and Rs 950 crore for the nextyear.