Pointing to the chief minister, Bhujbal said Joshi had operated from ``behind the curtain'' in the multi-crore land deal.

He then read out parts of the High Court judgment in the case which referred to the court's quashing of the letter of intent granted to the Sahara group's Amby Valley Project by the Manohar Joshi government.

``The chief minister claims his government had not given permission for the Sahara project. Who then gave this letter of intent? And why was it quashed by the court?'' he raged, following up the diatribe with a demand for a CBI probe into the episode.

Joshi, who was present in the House, took strong exception to the charges. A verbal duel between the two leaders followed, prompting Council deputy chairman VasantDavkhare to adjourn the House for ten minutes.

The resumption of the session saw a repeat of the earlier proceedings with Bhujbal and Joshi taking up from where they had left off. Accusations flew back and forth until Council chairman N S Pharande called for order, expunging the remarks made by the two leaders.

Earlier, initiating the debate, Bhujbal reproached the government for the ``deteriorating financial condition'' of the state and accused ``a few ministers'' in the coalition government -- including Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap -- of corruption.

He said that at a time when the government was facing an ``acute financial crisis'', it had chosen to grant exemption fromn entertainment tax to some commercial Hindi films. The decision to exempt some 16 films from the tax had resulted in a loss of Rs 60 crore to the state government this year, he said.

``How can the government afford to lose this revenue when it is facing a financial crisis ?'' he asked.

Bhujbal said Bharat Shah, a diamondmerchant in Mumbai, had financed as many as 10 Hindi feature films out of the 16 that were exempted from the tax. ``Who is this Bharat Shah?'' he demanded. ``Why is the government favouring him?''

He also demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter.