He told reporters that MSEB would not be at loss and said it would continue to make full payment to DPC as committed in the revised power purchase agreement. He said per unit cost will be dependent on the change in dollar-rupee rate and power used after its purchase.

Munde's remarks come in the wake of DPC charging a higher unit tariff of Rs 4.95 in June 1999 to MSEB which has submitted its second bill amounting to Rs 117 crore for 236 million units of electricity it purchased.

Munde said the per unit rate of Rs 3.01, which he had announced in the past, was depedent on the dollar-rupee rate. "However, the rate of Rs 4.95 may not remain continuously as it may reduce also in future. Thus the average rate will be arrived at only after looking at bills of next four to fivemonths and the power used," he commented.

Munde, who is also an energy minister, said state continues to be power deficit though it has been purchasing 90 per cent of the 740 mw power generated by the DPC. He brushed aside the allegations that MSEB run power stations had to be closed down following the purcahse of power from DPC and said that all power stations were in operation.

Munde called for an all-party meeting to be convened by the state chief electoral officer to discuss on the contentious issue of implementation of election model code of conduct. He said though he and his party was in favour of strick observance of model code of conduct, it was surprising that the party flag was not allowed atop its office nor a flag was allowed on car. "Such related issues should be made clear at the chief electoral officers' level," he added.

He said the first list of BJP candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra would be released by the party's central election committee on Augusttwo and three.

He said the party's state election committee would meet in Mumbai on July 25 and forward its list to the central election committee. The three-day meeting of the BJP central election committee begins in New Delhi on August two.

Munde said talks with BJP's alliance partner in the state for seat sharing would be held in five days and in case of dispute, Sena chief Bal Thackeray would take the final decision. BJP will contest 26 and Sena 22 out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats while for the 288-member Assembly, BJP will contest 117 and Sena 171. Munde also said though no decision has been taken as yet, regarding swapping of seats, BJP has submitted a letter to the Sena leadership expressing desire to field candidates in 15 assembly seats earlier held by the Sena, while the sena wants to contest in 30 constituencies earlier held by the BJP.