NCP leader Ajit Pawar holds late night meet with Devendra Fadnavis

After remaining ensconced in his south Mumbai residence throughout Sunday, NCP leader and newly-anointed deputy CM Ajit Pawar met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis late night and held closed-door discussions.

Earlier in the day, the supreme court issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra government, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on a plea filed by the Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP combine seeking quashing of the governor's November 23 order inviting the BJP leader to form government.

Senior BJP leaders Chandrakant Patil, Vinod Tawade and Girish Mahajan attended the meeting held at the official residence of the chief minister.

The apex court directed the Centre to place before it on Monday morning the letters of the governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari inviting Fadnavis and of the BJP leader staking his claim to form the government in the state.

The SC also said the issue of floor test, as demanded by the Congress-NCP-Sena combine, would be dealt with on Monday only after perusing the two letters- of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari inviting Fadnavis and of the BJP leader staking his claim to form the government- it has demanded.