The non-BJP tri-party arrangement in Maharashtra is likely to take shape any day now but the political developments in this regard have been quite confusing and unpredictable in the past few days. Shiv Sena has put all at stake in shifting its strength to the liberal parties but no other party in the game has come forward to say something concrete. Wednesday was no different as stakeholders said the biggest obstacle in the prospective formation were the Congress's reservations. Party president Sonia Gandhi had, however, given a go-ahead in this regard on Wednesday.

This move gave rise to another round of speculations – that it was borne out of a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and NCP boss Sharad Pawar. At the end of the meeting it officially turned out to be a discussion over an agrarian crisis in Maharashtra for which Pawar wants the Centre to part with a significant financial assistance during the President's rule.