A small issue prevented Munde’s admission into the Congress, otherwise the party strategists were ready to give a big shock to the BJP in Maharashtra. Manik Rao and Prithviraj Chavan were leading the issue from the front and Digvijay Singh from the Congress was bargaining and brokering the deal. Vilasrao Deshmukh has been kept away from the entire plot although Deshmukh and Munde live adjacent to each other in the same building in Worli, Mumbai. Actually, Munde wanted a seat in the Cabinet the minute he joined the Congress, while Congress didn’t think it would be appropriate, and so we would have to wait awhile. And in any case, people from outside the party have always gained more. Take Beni Prasad Verma (who might get a new post in the Cabinet reshuffle) as also Sanjay Nirupam, Mohan Prakash, Madhusudan Mistry, for instance.