Maharashtra govt formation: Sena fails to get extension to prove majority, NCP gets call

The twist took place with the Congress remaining silent on extending support to Shiv Sena to form the government in the crucial state of Maharashtra.

According to reports, the Congress kept stalling the decision to support Uddhav Thackeray's party even after several meetings and a phone conversation between Sena chief and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Sharad Pawar's NCP, which bagged the third-highest number of seats, confirmed to media on Monday evening that it has received a call from Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to stake a claim.

Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Uddhav Thackeray, led a delegation to meet with the Governor on Monday evening.

The party failed to produce letters of support while seeking for a three-day extension of the deadline for submitting the same.

However, the Governor expressed his inability to give any further extension, an official statement from the office of the governor claimed.

The development came after Sena's lone Union Minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, Arvind Sawant, resigned from the Union Cabinet, citing the differences with the BJP. 

The move clearly signalled a break-up of the Sena with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Congress did not rule out support to the Sena but said in a noncommittal statement: "The Congress president has spoken to Sharad Pawar. The party will have further discussions with NCP."

Media reports credit Sharad Pawar as the bridge between Uddhav Thackeray and a reluctant Congress to form an alliance in the crucial state of Maharashtra.

Party sources also said that while a section of Congress leaders have expressed apprehensions on the issue of supporting the Shiv Sena , another section of leaders from Maharashtra are arguing for the alliance with Sena-NCP government.

Thackeray had already met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at a hotel in Mumbai about the formation of an alliance government in Maharashtra, where BJP had said that it is not going to form the government, due to the lack of numbers.