However, Munde told reporters, there were `two sides to the issue'. Bureaucracy had not opposed Bhatia's transfer, he said. He declined further comment saying `the matter is sub-judice'.

On a letter by the IAS officers association to Chief Minister Narayan Rane, Munde said it did not reflect any major discontent in the state bureaucracy over transfers. The letter had only referred to blackening of an IAS officer's face in the Nanded-Beed belt and three persons were arrested in this connection, he said.

To a query, Munde said there was no question of seeking resignation of State Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap who faced corruption charges, as he had not been indicted by a court unlike Ravindra Mane who quit as Minister of State for Urban Development after the high court verdict in the Pune landscam case.

Addressing a gathering to commemorate the BJP Government's first anniversary at the Centre, Munde said A B Vajpayee was the perfect man to hold the reins of power in the difficult era of coalitions.