New Delhi, Oct. 21: Sonia Gandhi today stepped in to break the Maharashtra deadlock over government formation after almost a week of claims and counter-claims to the chief ministership.

The Congress chief summoned all AICC functionaries who were in charge of poll management in the state to gauge the mood of state leaders and MLAs.

She wanted to know whether they thought the party should bargain with the Nationalist Congress Party to retain the top post or concede it to the ally, now the major partner by a thin margin in the Democratic Front alliance.

Her direct intervention is believed to be partly a result of divisions among her senior colleagues over the issue.

A senior Congress functionary had yesterday hinted that Sonia might have to guide the party negotiators to settle the issue with their NCP counterparts by the weekend. While Sonia held a series of meetings with party colleagues through the day, interlocutors from both sides held ?informal consultations? to achieve a breakthrough, the deadline for which is Saturday.

Congress sources said the two main negotiators Ahmed Patel, the party chief?s political secretary, and Praful Patel, the NCP boss? trusted lieutenant, were in touch during the day.

The NCP camp indicated that the ?informal? talks were going into ?micro details? of at least a couple of proposals that would help form the government.

Sonia today consulted AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra Margaret Alva, Union ministers Sunil Dutt and Prithviraj Chavan, and AICC secretaries and poll managers B.K. Hariprasad, Ajay Maken, Bharat Solanki and Ved Prakash.

Hariprasad said the four secretaries briefed Sonia about the views of the newly elected MLAs on chief ministership. They also told her why they thought the Congress got fewer seats than the NCP despite contesting more.

Congress leaders have begun to say government formation is ?no longer a dispute over numbers?, but the leadership is lining up Independent MLAs to press the party?s claim to chief ministership.

Last night, eight Independent MLAs appeared before Sonia to pledge support for the Congress claim. This afternoon, another Independent legislator, Madan Bhosle, met her to commit support.

Bhosle, the son of former state Congress chief Prataprao Bhosle, had rebelled against the party and successfully fought the election.

The father quit the Congress protesting against its decision to concede to the NCP his pocket borough of Wai in Satara district.

NCP leaders, however, asserted that their party would have more support for its claim to chief ministership despite the Congress bid to rope in Independents.