State party chief Balasaheb Thorat and former Chief Ministers Prithviraj Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan, and others called on Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar shortly after the verbal slugfest erupted between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray.
Thorat and Prithviraj Chavan said it is clear that the "pre-poll alliance" between the BJP-Sena has failed miserably, but since they secured the peoples' mandate, they should form the government.
They pointed out that in view of the political uncertainties, the farmers and victims of the recent unseasonal rains and floods continue to suffer and it was imperative that the state gets an elected government at the earliest.
"We have not yet finalized any strategy in this matter. We shall wait for the steps taken by the Governor before we do anything," Thorat said when asked whether it would support the Shiv Sena to form the next government.
Now, as both the BJP-Sena appeared to have turned their backs at each other - though claiming that their alliance was still intact - all eyes are on Governor B.S. Koshyari's moves to steer the state out of the political stalemate.
Meanwhile, late Friday banners and posters went up in some parts of the city with huge pictures of Yuva Sena MLA Aditya Thackeray and captions proclaiming him as 'CM in waiting'.
( With inputs from IANS )