Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday drove out of Matoshree, his family home in Mumbai's Bandra, to meet Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar at a luxury hotel after the NCP veered in favour of supporting a Sena-led coalition government in Maharashtra.

However,Sharad Pawar's party hasn't announced its support yet and is waiting for theCongress, its pre-poll ally, to formalise its stand later in the evening. Theonly announcement that came out of the Congress' big meet in national capitalDelhi was that it needed to hold a second one to consult its Maharashtraleaders at 4 pm.

Sourcesfamiliar with the development said that the Congress, despite a certaindiscomfort over supporting the Shiv Sena over their ideological differences,was open to the idea of working with Uddhav Thackeray's party. But it hasn'tmade up its mind on whether it should join the government or extend outsidesupport.

Meanwhile, the Sena was given 24 hours by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to respond to an invitation to stake claim to form the government on Sunday. That deadline expires at 7.30 pm.