Was it Pawar or Sonia who halted the Shiv Sena at the last minute

New Delhi, Nov 13: The Shiv Sena sounded confident when the Governor invited the party to form the government in Maharashtra. However, towards the end of the day, the body language of all the Sena leaders had changed and the party was unable to form the government as it did not get letters of support from either the Congress or NCP.

During the early meetings between the Congress and the NCP, Sonia Gandhi was extremely reluctant to go ahead and support the Shiv Sena. However, there were leaders from Maharashtra who were insistent.

Further, a call from Uddhav Thackeray to Sonia Gandhi requesting support changed the approach of the Congress chief to some extent. She was insistent on a common agenda so that the parties could iron out ideological differences and work together.

Just as Sonia started softening her stance, it was Sharad Pawar who called her and asked that the decision be kept on hold.

Pawar told Sonia that the details of the power-sharing had not been sorted out. It was clear that Pawar had sniffed a chance to put up an NCP leader as the CM of Maharashtra. The Sena was reluctant. The Shiv Sena began driving for the 50:50 formula, but the question was who would occupy the coveted seat first.

Once Pawar began playing his cards, the Congress became reluctant. It decided not to commit anything to the Shiv Sena and wait instead. Just as Aditya Thackeray reached Raj Bhavan, the Congress issued an official statement that it would need to hold further discussions on the issue.

Aditya Thackeray sought for more time from the Governor, but the same was rejected.