New Delhi: The Congress leadership has made up its mind on extending outside support to the Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, but decided not to take any public position until it gets a concrete proposal from Uddhav Thackeray.
The leadership agrees that it is necessary to back the Sena to oust the BJP; but, nonetheless, it has advised the state leaders, who had rushed to Delhi for discussions, to tread warily.
It was pointed out to them that since Sena had contested the elections in alliance with the BJP, both may still patch up. So, the Congress should not become a bargaining chip for extracting a favourable deal from the BJP.
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who is handling talks with the Shiv Sena in Mumbai, is expected to be in Delhi on Tuesday and Sonia Gandhi will make up her mind after consulting him, since both parties had contested the state election together in alliance.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi refused to meet the state leaders, lest it sends a wrong signal that only helps the Shiv Sena bargain with the BJP. Instead, party leaders led by state Congress President Balasaheb Thorat held discussions with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, who is in-charge of organisational affairs.
Thorat had brought with him the two former chief ministers -- Prithviraj Chavan and Ashok Chavan, Manikrao Thakre and Vijay Wadettiwar to add weightage to their plea.
They were initially asked to return to Mumbai as Sonia hates any talk of tie-up with the Shiv Sena, but was reportedly persuaded by a senior leader to give them an audience.
After consultations with the senior party leaders, she opted to wait till Tuesday to speak to Pawar who is in the thick of the negotiations and reportedly had a telephonic talk with Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday night, party sources said.
The state Congress leaders have gathered from their visit the sense that the NCP may even join the government. Pawar has not yet disclosed his cards yet and Venugopal advised the party leaders to wait for a clear line to emerge before proceeding further, party sources added.
