Maharashtra drama: All eyes on Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: After Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's highly charged press conference on Friday where he alleged that BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, were "lying" about the rotational Chief Minister formula, any hope of a patch-up between the allies appears to have ended, thus bringing NCP President Sharad Pawar back at the epicentre of Maharashtra's turbulent politics.

All eyes are now on Pawar's next move as he held hectic parleys with Maharashtra Congress leaders in a closed-door meeting after the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday.

Sources said that Pawar held separate meetings with three former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra -- Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan -- besides meeting state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat.

Pawar also met Sena leader Sanjay Raut twice, but details of the meetings were not known.

"Sanjay Raut is acting as an emissary of Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray," said an NCP leader.

According to a source, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is likely to move its MLAs to a safe location to protect them from falling prey to horse trading.

The Congress and the Shiv Sena have already moved their MLAs to safe locations.

Sources in the Congress said that the opposition may move in if the deadlock continues over government formation in Maharashtra.

Knowing the politics of Pawar, the ball can move either way though NCP is officially saying that the party is ready to sit in the opposition.