After the initial bonhomie that saw Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin offering 'roses' on Valentine's Day and 'sweets' the next day after his meeting with Ruias, Essar pulled a surprise announcing it would take a decision in due course by "ensuring all shareholders rights, including those in agreement with Hutchison Telecom, are adhered to."

"I am coming soon I hope", Sarin told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to wind up his three-day India visit. "There is still some work to be done and we will do that work in the coming weeks".

"I am going back with the very positive feeling that we are working together... they are the founding partners in this venture... I would very much like for them to continue," Sarin said.

Essar, which had earlier taken cudgels on Vodafone's unilateral announcement to share infrastructure with rival Bharti Airtel even before fructification of the deal with HTIL, is keeping open all its options, including Right of First Refusal.

Amid speculation that Essar might be taking a hard line to bargain for a premium from Vodafone for exiting the venture, where it has 33 per cent stake, the British giant has made it clear that it would not sweeten the offer, which would be the same as that made for HTIL's controlling stake.

Quoting the legal opinion, Sarin had asserted that when it came to Vodafone, Essar did not have a Right of First Refusal to enable it to match the top bid.

Sources in the know, however, said that Essar is still holding on to the RoFR clause, which it had annexed while making a bid for HTIL's stake, presumably to emphasise that it would want all the protections, if not more, in the yet to be signed shareholders agreement.

At the same time, Essar may also be looking for a possibility of partnering Vodafone in the management, sources said. But there was no word from Essar on these issues.

Last night, Essar had said that it "sees telecom as a core part of its business portfolio in the long term" and would not exit the business, in an obvious indication that it could still seek majority control, should there be no agreement with Vodafone.

However, the two sides had preliminary round of talks at the Ruias' mansion in Mumbai yesterday, which sources close to the development said was mainly to establish a good will.

Before leaving, Sarin said he was convinced that Essar would remain a partner in the mobile venture. "The shareholders agreement with Essar will be hopefully signed soon".