Sonia's shocker to Sena

New Delhi : NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence here amidst an impasse between the BJP and its ally the Shiv Sena on the government formation in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Sonia has ruled out supporting Shiv Sena, according to a source.

Amidst reports that Uddhav Thackeray's party was in touch with the NCP, Pawar said that the Shiv Sena has not sought any support from his party to form the government, but asserted that he can't say "what will happen" in the future.

In the meeting that lasted over half an hour, sources said the two leaders discussed the possibilities of the Congress and the NCP supporting the Shiv Sena in case it decides to move out of its alliance with the BJP.

"The mandate given by the people of Maharashtra to NCP is to sit in the opposition but you cannot speak about future," the NCP chief said.

The BJP and the Sena are locked in a bitter dispute over the issue, resulting in a stalemate in government formation despite results of the Assembly polls on October 24 giving the saffron alliance a combined seat strength of 161, way past the 145 majority mark in the 288-member House.

In the polls, the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena-56, NCP-54 and Congress-44.

Independent MLA Ravi Rana, who has extended support to the BJP in Maharashtra, on Monday claimed that "some 25 MLAs" of the Shiv Sena were in touch with him over formation of the next government.

The MLA from Badnera in Amravati district dubbed the Sena as "very arrogant" and claimed the Uddhav Thackeray-led party will split and nearly two dozen MLAs will join the BJP if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis forms the next government without its saffron ally.

There is need to form a government in Maharashtra at the earliest, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Amid the stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra, a Marathi daily, widely seen inclined towards the RSS, on Monday likened Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut to 'Betaal', the mythological ghost known for challenging King Vikramaditya with his witty riddles.

Coming down heavily on Raut, Tarun Bharat, the Nagpur-based publication believed to be close to the Sangh and its political extension BJP, said he was hurting the chances of BJP-Sena alliance to come to power in Maharashtra.

Without naming Raut, it called him a "joker" and said "his attempts to portray a picture that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is isolated in the BJP is nothing but pure entertainment".

Raut, the Sena's Rajya Sabha member and executive editor of its mouthpiece 'Saamana', has been at the forefront of voicing his party's demands over equal distribution of power and sharing the chief minister's post with the BJP in the next Maharashtra government.

He mocked the BJP on multiple occasions by asking questions like "Itna sannata kyon hai bhai..." (why is there so much silence), using the popular dialogue from Bollywood blockbuster "Sholay", on the economic slowdown.

On Monday, Tarun Bharat published an editorial titled 'Uddhav and Betaal'. The term 'Betaal' is also used in Marathi where it means a person indulging in loose talks.

"Late Balasaheb Thackeray spent his entire life for wresting power from the Congress and NCP. But this Betaal is trying hard to shatter his dreams and there will be no disappointment like this to see the Sena dragging behind one loud-mouth," the Marathi daily said.