Seeing the delay in the Congress camp, the NCP too delayed its announcement on the pact. Party boss Sharad Pawar met his lieutenants in the morning but refused to divulge any details.

Shiv Sena will require NCP's 56 and 44 legislators of Congress to add up to its strength of 56 (63 with the independents) if it was to confirm the arithmetic to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in government formation. The Governor wants Sena to submit the list of MLAs and a word of support, even an assurance from the two Congress parties, before the deadline.

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The Congress parties are expected to declare their respective stand by early evening on Monday. And in the event of a further delay, the Shiv Sena might ask the governor for extension of the deadline as the party claimed that Raj Bhavan had given the BJP 48 hours to decide after which it said no to form the government while Sena has been given only 24 hours.

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