In a major shift from the tradition, Alexander told the anxious journalists waiting at the Raj Bhavan here that he would take a final decision on which political group to invite to form the next government by Saturday evening.

The governor said there were several constitutional compulsions as the notification for constitution of the assembly had been issued on October 11.Asked whether he would call the Sena-BJP alliance or Congress-Nationalist Congres Party first to prove majority, Alexander said since the Shiv Sena-BJP was the largest pre-poll alliance, he would take up their list first for verification.

As the word from the governor spead, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance and the Congress on Friday furthered their efforts to muster support of 145 members in the 288-member state assembly in a bid to give a final list to the governor on Saturday.

Interestingly, the Sena-BJP alliance has claimed that it has support of 145 members while the Congress has claimed backing of 148 members. However, according to the governor both Congress and Sena-BJP alliance had made similar claims on majority saying that they enjoyed the support of 145 MLAs.Outgoing chief minister Narayan Rane and deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde, who had been trading charges till Thursday, jointly met Alexander and submitted a joint letter staking their claim. On his part, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Prataprao Bhosale and the newly elected Congress Legislature Party leader Vilasrao Deshmukh also held talks with the governor.

"I will exercise my discretion and verify both the lists before arriving at a decision. If there is repetition of same names in the lists, I will have to summon those MLAs personally and ask them their real position," the governor observed.

Explaining the norms, he said that he was required to address the joint session of the state legislative assembly and legislative council latest by October 22 for which the newly-elected members of the House would have to take oath first. This process will take two days. Since October 19 is a public holiday, he has to issue summons for convening the House by October 18, he said.

For convening the House, the governor has to seek the advice of the council of ministers and the council will have to pass his address to the joint session, for which the swearing-in of council of ministers is required to take place on October 17 and latest by October 18 morning.

He said that he would have to invite the new government by Saturday if the norms had to be followed. "I hope everything will be all right. If not, I would exercise discretionary powers with full transparency."

NCP president Sharad Pawar said that though his party would like to support the Congress in the formation of a stable, transparent and people-oriented government, it would not be at the cost of the party's self-esteem. Ruling out possibility of supporting the BJP-Sena combine, Pawar said that his party had the experience and the habit to work as the Opposition.

Pawar told reporters that talks between NCP and the Congress on formation of the next government in Maharashtra were "far from satisfactory".

"Further talks will be futile till we get answers on certain issues," the former chief minister told reporters. Pawar's statement follows an announcement by MPCC chief Prataprao Bhosale here late Thursday night that the Congress had agreed to NCP's demand for sharing of portfolios as per the formula adopted by the Sena-BJP government.