Amid the political drama over government formation in Maharashtra, senior Congress leaders held a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at interim President Sonia Gandhi’s residence in Delhi on Monday.

Senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, and Mallikarjun Kharge met Sonia Gandhi over the political situation in Maharashtra.

The meeting came as the Shiv Sena exited the NDA government with Union Minister and party MP Arvind Sawant resigning from the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet.

The resignation comes as Shiv Sena is preparing to form the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the NCP and Congress.

Not yet decided on extending support to Shiv Sena, the Congress has summoned its Maharashtra leaders to Delhi.

Following the CWC meeting, Congress in-charge in the state Mallikarjun Kharge said that the party has called its Maharashtra leaders to Delhi for further discussions and a meeting will be held at 4 pm today.

Sources said most MLAs are not averse to the Congress offering conditional support to a Shiv Sena-led government in the state.

But the party will only consider a dialogue with the Shiv Sena after it announces leaving the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and its lone minister Arvind Sawant resigns from the Union Cabinet, sources had said.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has said that it is waiting for the Congress to take a decision.

“We fought elections together and whatever will be decided, it will be decided together,” NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik told reporters today.

The NCP too had held a core-group meeting on the issue of government formation in Maharashtra.

Speaking to media persons, Malik said that the Congress MLAs are in favour of supporting Shiv Sena-led government, but added that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the supreme body to decide on their party line.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had earlier on Monday said that he has not spoken with anyone on Arvind Sawant’s resignation, adding that a decision will be taken only after discussion with the Congress.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena is set to meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari this afternoon and hand over a letter of support and seek more time to prove majority. A high-level meeting of the party will take place at Sena Bhavan later today.

Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena leader of Legislative Party, will lead the delegation to the Maharashtra Governor.

After the BJP refused to stake claim of the government stating that it does not have required numbers, state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Sunday night invited the Shiv Sena, which is the second-largest party, to form the government in the state.

The Sena, which has 56 MLAs in the 288-member House after the BJP (105), has time till 7:30 pm today to stake the claim. While Shiv Sena has been making efforts to reach out to the NCP and the Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led party said the Sena will have to walk out of the NDA first.

The Sena and the BJP have been locked in a tussle since the Uddhav Thackeray-led party raised demand for the chief minister’s post on a rotational basis and implementation of a “50:50 power-sharing” formula, which entails equal allocation of ministerial portfolios. The BJP has rejected both the demands.