MUMBAI: Most of the Congress MLAs lodged at Jaipur have convented the idea of lending 'outside support' to the Shiv Sena, party sources have said on Sunday.
Top Congress leadership had been averse to the idea of forming a government along with Shiv Sena.
However, with the possibility of BJP-Shiv Sena reconciliation getting weak, the group within the party that had been professing the idea of a non-BJP government in Maharashtra has swung into action again.
Former MP and Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora supported the idea today, while state Congress leaders who reached Jaipur and held a meeting of party MLAs, sources said.
State Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that the meeting is still on and the party may announce its decision by evening.
AICC generally secretary Mallikarjun Kharge too on Sunday met the MLAs informally to ascertain their views on what stand the party should take about government formation in Maharashtra, as per media reports.
"Kharge will then convey the sentiments of the legislators to the party leadership," senior Congress leader Manikrao Thakare said.
"Kharge will then convey the sentiments of the legislators to the party leadership," Thakare said.
All 44 MLAs, including senior leaders like Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat, were staying at the resort in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan amid fear of "poaching" in view of the stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra.
The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena are locked in a bitter tussle over the chief minister's post.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday evening asked the BJP, the single largest party in the new Assembly, to "indicate the willingness and ability" to form government in the state.
In the October 21 polls to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena-56, NCP-54 and Congress-44.
(With PTI Inputs)