The Congress on Monday indicated that it had not decided on supporting the Shiv Sena after many meetings and a phone conversation between Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "We will get back to you after speaking to MLAs," Sonia Gandhi reportedly told Uddhav Thackeray, who, sources said, had made "numerous calls" as the two ideologically mismatched parties tried to get past their differences to collaborate. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar tried to be the bridge between Uddhav Thackeray and a reluctant Congress as alliances shape-shifted in one of India's biggest states. The Sena set the stage for talks after pulling out its lone minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, Arvind Sawant, signaling the party's severing of ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
