Wednesday, May 5, was the last day for submission of tenders, for which nearly 31 contractors from different parts of the state had come to submit.However, due to the strong-arm tactics of the Shiv Sainiks, just two contractors were allowed to submit their bids. The PWD has however, washed its hands off the episode, with its Executive Engineer, S L Jadhav, dissociating himself from the incident as the ``commotion had occured outside the building''. He claimed the contractors had arrived at a compromise among themselves before deciding who should submit their tenders. The two road construction works pertain to the Solapur-Dhule state highway No 1, of about15 km each.

The contractors were so terror-struck that they have not filed any complaint with the police, one of them told The Indian Express. However, a section of them has sought help from Srikant Joshi, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and close confidant of Deputy Chief Minister, Gopinath Munde. They said Joshi has promised to take up the matter with BJP ministers, including Minister for Public Works Nitin Gadkari.

With this, the issue is likely to turn into a Sena-BJP confrontation especially since the Parliamentary and state Assembly elections are approaching. Each camp will want to project themselves as being loyal to the contractors, sources in the BJP said.

However, Chandrakant Khaire told the The Indian Express that there was nothing wrong with the Sainiks' behaviour. ``When Shiv Sainiks insist that certain works be assigned to local contractors only, they are fully justified in their demand. "We have had enough experience with outside contractors, who appear quite eager when they beginwork on their projects but then keep them pending for years together.''

The Sena minister says he is keen to see that all road construction works be completed within the next three months. He, however, denies the Sainiks had physically eliminated the competition. ``Jaya Gudage, the Shiv Sainik who led the locals, had succeeded in convincing the other contractors to withdraw their bids,'' the minister claimed.

Contractors also allege that the tenders they had submitted to the PWD office prior to May 1999, had been literally snatched from the office clerks' hands by the Sainiks. The department, of course, denies this.