NCP President Sharad Pawar on Friday said Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray has been chosen by consensus to lead Maharashtra.

His statement came after the party held talks with the Congress and the Sena in Mumbai to hammer out the final contours of the alliance. At an earlier meeting of Sena MLAs at Matoshree, Thackeray's residence in Mumbai, they stressed on the Sena chief's name for the top post in the state. Later, the NCP also lent support to the legislators' demand.

"Congress-NCP are of the view that Uddhav Thackeray should be the chief minister. Not sure if we will support any other name for the post," said Chhagan Bhujbal. The development came hours after the names of Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant emerged as frontrunners for the post of chief minister.