Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said he will soon return to Mumbai, and rubbished Shiv Sena's claim that as many as 20 MLAs of his group are in touch with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

• Uddhav Thackeray asks rebel MLA's to talk to him and find a solution, reports ndtv.com

Talking to reporters outside the luxury hotel where he and his group of MLAs are lodged since last week, Shinde also said he has support of 50 MLAs.

All these MLAs have come here on their own and to take forward Hindutva, Shinde said.

Senior Sena leaders have been claiming that around 20 MLAs of the party, now with Shinde in Guwahati, are in touch with them and want to return to Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is headed to New Delhi for a possible meeting with the BJP top brass amid speculation in Maharashtra that the Shiv Sena rebels headed by Eknath Shinde are preparing for floor test in the state Assembly.

Reports in ndtv.com suggest that several BJP leaders held a brainstorming session at Fadnavis's residence in Mumbai to discuss the arithmetic required to form a government along with the Shinde faction.

"We are waiting for the MVA government to declare that they don't have the numbers," said party leader Sudhir Mungantiwa, reports NDTV.

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to pass orders on a plea moved by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government urging that there should be no floor test till the pending issues are decided. "If anything illegal happens, you can always move this court," it said.

The Supreme Court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings against 16 rebel Sena MLAs, sought the deputy Speaker’s response to their plea questioning his authority to issue disqualification notices, and said it would hear the matter next on July 11.

In an interim order, the apex court said the June 27 deadline set by the deputy Speaker for the rebels to respond to the disqualification notices would stand extended till 5.30pm on July 12.