Maharashtra political crisis: After Sharad Pawar's call, Sonia sends Congress leaders to Mumbai

Sonia has deputed three senior Congress leaders- Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal- for holding talks with Pawar.

Venugopal himself tweeted, "Hon'ble Congress President Smt.Sonia Gandhi spoke to Shri.Sharad Pawar today morning and deputed Shri.Ahamed Patel, Shri.Mallikarjun Kharge and myself for holding further discussions with Shri.Pawar. We three are going to Mumbai now and will meet Shri.Pawar at the earliest."

Earlier, the Congress had decided not to send any representative to Mumbai contradicting its own stand taken on Monday night.

The drama unfolded in the Governor's House on Monday night after Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray claimed he had the backing of the NCP and Congress but failed to furnish the letters of support.

Snubbing the Sena, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asked the third-largest party NCP to stake claim to form the government. The deadline set for the NCP is 8:30 pm on Tuesday.

The political crisis started in Maharashtra on Oct 24 after the Sena, which has won 56 seats in alliance with the BJP, demanded 50:50 power share in the government and rotational Chief Ministership. The BJP, which won 105 seats alone, had rejected the demands of the Sena.

On last Sunday, the BJP refused to form government and passed the buck to Shiv Sena and other small parties.

The Sena, which has also withdrawn itself from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), was looking to cobble up the majority number of 145 by adding NCP's 54 and Congress' 44.

The NCP, which fought the elections in an alliance with the Congress, said it won't take any decision on the government formation without consultations with its ally.

Meanwhile, the BJP is keeping a watch at the political developments from a distance.