Shiv Sena to form govt in Maharashtra with support from NCP, CONG: Reports

The development comes after a crucial meeting of the senior leaders of the Congress in the national capital to decide on the issue of support to Shiv Sena in government formation in the state.

The meeting, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi and attended by leaders like AK Antony and Ahmed Patel along with leaders from Maharashtra, is believed to have been called to deliberate on the issue of extending support to a Shiv Sena - NCP government in Maharashtra.

According to party sources, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had also called Gandhi and sought Congress' support to form a Government in the state.

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.

Earlier in the day, Sena's lone Union Minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, Arvind Sawant, resigned from the Union Cabinet, citing the differences with the BJP.