Sources said Uddhav was ready to soften stand on offering support to the BJP which is a commanding position after winning 122 seats in the 288-member House. The BJP, however, seems to be playing hardball with its 25-year-old ally.

"We had gone to Delhi to take forward our talks on forming the next government together. We are ready for an alliance with BJP to form government and talks were positive," Subhash Desai, who briefed Uddhav on the developments earlier in the day, told reporters in Mumbai.

Desai said he had not met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who has been appointed observer for the election of BJP legislature party leader.

On Tuesday, 39 of the 44 BJP MLAs from Vidarbha offered their support to Gadkari. While Gadkari insisted that he was not in the Race for becoming the CM, photographs of his meetings with party MLAs released to the media are being seen as a show of strength against Fadnavis.

Gadkari's supporters have for long been saying that Fadnavis (44) lacks administrative experience. They say Gadkari as PWD Minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government (1994 to 1999) was responsible for impressive projects like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the construction of several flyovers in Mumbai.

Both Gadkari and Fadnavis both enjoy the blessings of the RSS. However, Fadnavis, with his clean image, enjoys an edge over his rival.

Officially, Gadkari insists that he is happy with his assignment in Delhi. "I have already said I am not interested in returning to state politics. But it is for the party's Central leadership to decide and I will accept any responsibility given to me," said Gadkari.

Gadkari also has the backing of senior party MLA Vinod Tawde who was also in the race for the top job till the party leadership swung in favour of Fadnavis.