The chief minister was speaking to mediapersons soon after he and his Deputy Gopinath Munde had a meeting with Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Asked about frequent reports that he was being replaced, the chief minister said, "I have also read such reports and you have to ask those who publish all this."

Denying charges that he was pro-Sharad Pawar, Joshi said that he had not met the senior Congress leader in the last six months and pointed out that he had bitterly criticised Pawar during the election campaign.

The chief minister also had a meeting with Home Minister L K Advani during which he requested the Central Government to take measuresfor early extradition of people connected with underworld activities who have fled the country.

Joshi said it would be his Government's endeavour to table the Sri Krishna Commission report in the Assembly. The commission went into the riots that broke out in Mumbai in 1993.

Joshi said he also requested the Central Government to extend by five years the State's Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme, which is expiring in June this year. Joshi also urged the Centre to send an expert team to take stock of the situation in the State after crops worth several crores of rupees were destroyed in the recent hailstorm. Meanwhile, an official release in Mumbai said Joshi also demanded that Sahar International Airport in the City be renamed after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He also told the prime minister that an all-party delegation should be formed to find a solution to the long-pending boundary dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Conversion of the decommissioned aircraft carrier-Vikrant into a maritimeheritage museum, and Mumbai Urban Development Project were some of the other issues discussed during the meeting.