MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leaders including Aaditya Thackeray and Eknath Shinde have met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai and informed him that they are willing to form the government.
The Sena asked for three more days before formally staking its claim but this has been rejected by the Governor.
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi had spoken to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray over the phone earlier in the day.
Neither the Congress nor the NCP has sent the Governor a letter of support to the Shiv Sena yet. A Congress leader said the party will hold discussions with the NCP before they take a final decision.
Many senior Congress leaders, who were camping at a private resort in Jaipur, had rushed to the national capital on Monday in a special plane for the crucial working committee meeting to decide whether the party will support the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Congress State President Bala Saheb Thorat and three former Chief Ministers, Ashok Chavan, Sushil Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan, were all part of the discussions.
According to Congress sources, the MLAs, who are currently lodged at Buena Vista, a 5-star resort on the Delhi Highway, will leave for either Mumbai or Delhi the moment they receive orders.
On Sunday, a long meeting of Congress leaders had taken place in which Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot participated and held discussions with the three former CMs of Maharashtra.
Earlier on Sunday, the Maharashtra Congress had left the decision on naming the Legislative Party leader to interim president Sonia Gandhi. It was also decided in the meeting that the Congress will continue its alliance with the NCP.
Rajasthan remains the centre of Maharashtra Congress politics. Forty Congress MLAs had camped in a private resort near Jaipur for fear of horse-trading.