Earlier, the problem used to be many contenders for few projects, now, the situation is a tad different. ``We have too many flyovers being completed, over 30 by the year-end, and too few people to inaugurate them,'' shrugged state PWD minister Nitin Gadkari, widely seen as the man behind the pre-poll flyover blitzkrieg.

Eleven flyovers have been inaugurated thus far, exhausting the list of usual suspects. Pramod Mahajan, LK Advani and Shatrughan Sinha have already been roped in. In a radical departure from the regular netas, industrialist Ratan Tata cut the ribbon on the flyover at Vashi last month. Gadkari terms this an achievement, as Tata usually avoids public functions.

The MSRDC has now approached Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Rahul Bajajand of course Thackeray scions Uddhav and Raj to do the honours, but is still groping for more Very Important names.

``The idea being that we should approach eminent personalities from all walks of life,'' said a senior MSRDC official. However, none of the guests are yet to confirm their presence, though the prospect of having their names engraved in granite for a few decades is quite tempting.

Gavaskar and Tendulkar are away for over a month at the World Cup and Mangeshkar is convalescing following her eye operation.

Three flyovers are to be commissioned this month alone, at Belapur, Dattapada road and the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road. However, the dates and personalities have yet to be finalised. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been reserved for the mother of all MSRDC flyovers, the Rs 500 crore Worli-Bandra sea-link that shoots out into the sea and curves a distance of four kilometres. In fact, the PM was to lay the foundation stone for this project on May 1, Maharashtra Day. And when hecouldn't make it, MSRDC postponed the function.

It seems unlikely the PM will make it to officially flag off work this month, given the 15-day notice period for security arrangements. A September date seems more likely as work on the project cannot take place during the monsoon.

Inaugurating the MSRDC's Mulund-Airoli link bridge in January, Home Minister LK Advani was candid enough to admit that his name was being included on the stone even though he had no contribution whatsoever to the project.

However, state officials made light of the Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan's contribution to the Mahim flyover inaugurated last week. Mahajan was the same person who had laid the foundation stone of the flyover three years ago!

So what happens at the inauguration of a flyover? It's not hard to guess for a state government which hopes to ride home at the polls on the flyover mantra of `what the Congress didn't do in 40 years, we've done in four'. The sprawling shamiana becomes a politicalplatform for tom-tomming party achievements and running down opponents, all with the usual promises of brief speeches.