Ever since BJP leader Kirit Somaiyya and high-profile Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain's public spat, the running of the alliance government has been shifted to first gear. And to add to that, the saffron week which started from October 9, has brought the working of the government to a screeching halt.

All the 18 Sena ministers including Chief Minister Manohar Joshi have cancelled their official engagements in Mantralaya and have been devoting their entire time to the party.

The Chief Minister launched his saffron week from tribal Gadchiroli district and in the subsequent days, has addressed a series of meetings at Bhadrawati in Chandrapur district, Nagpur, Raigad, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani and Beed, the home town of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde.

As all the Cabinet members have beengiven specific programme during the week, they will not be available in Mantralaya for the stipulated period of time.

Trade and Commerce Minister Pramod Navalkar has been given the responsibility of Bhandara, Nagpur and Mumbai, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has been asked to look after Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Sangli, while Industries Minister Leeladhar Dake and Education Minister Sudhir Joshi have been given Pune, Ahmadnagar and Nagpur districts.

At least, a dozen senior bureaucrats today admitted that owing to the saffron week, no files are moving. ``Otherwise also, the process of decision making in the alliance government is very slow compared to the erstwhile Congress government,'' opined to a senior official.

The official said the routine work of ministers entrusted with quasi judicial powers has been adversely affected owing to the saffron week. ``During the entire week, there will no disposal of appeals filed by the litigants neither the ministers will be available for hearing the grievances,''the official said.

The official said after the alliance government came to power, the code of conduct imposed by the Election Commission of India was in force for a long duration owing to the Lok Sabha polls and followed by zilla parishads and civic bodies' elections.

Defending their long absence in Mantralaya, most of the ministers said that taking part in party activities is also their duty. ``We are in Mantralaya or are Cabinet members, because we are in Shiv Sena and as such, it is out duty to take all possible steps to strengthen the organisation,'' a senior Minister said.

Stating that no inconvenience has been caused to the visitors and no official meeting was cancelled during the week, the minister pointed out, ``since the announcement of saffron week was made well in advance, we had not given any appointment during the week.''