Top Congress leaders, former Maharashtra chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde, as well as state unit chief Balasaheb Thorat, met party president Sonia Gandhi on Monday evening to decide on whether or not to support the Shiv Sena in forming a government in the state.
Earlier in the morning, all senior members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met at Gandhi's residence. However, the meeting was inconclusive and the party leadership decided to meet again at 4 pm, amid indications that the legislators were not in favour of fresh elections in the state.
Senior leaders A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, K C Venugopal also attended the meeting in the evening.
The Sena is the second-largest party in the 288-member House with 56 MLAs after the BJP (105). Given the stalemate between the two alliance partners, the role of the Congress with its 44 legislators and the Nationalist Congress Party with 54 MLAs is crucial. The Shiv Sena has time till 7.30 pm on Monday to stake claim.
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