The Shiv Sena on Sunday escalated its rhetoric on forming the government in Maharashtra, with senior leader Sanjay Raut claiming the party would soon have a chief minister in place with the support of “170 MLAs”.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP too exuded confidence that the impasse would end soon.

Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray, however, remained evasive, as the wrangling continued even 10 days after the Assembly poll verdict gave the BJP and the Sena enough numbers to form the government.

The allies have 161 MLAs in the 288-member House but differences over equal sharing of the chief minister’s post and other ministerial berths have delayed formal talks.

The Sena on Sunday appeared to have reached out to the NCP, whose chief Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday.

Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar told reporters Raut had sent him a message that reads: “Namaskar mi Sanjay Raut. Jai Maharashtra.”

“This means I should call him,” Ajit, a former deputy chief minister, said. “I will call and check.”

Ajit said he was “unaware” of how the Sena leader had arrived at the number 170. “The Congress-NCP and other allies have a strength of 110 seats (which includes the Congress’s 44 and the NCP’s 54). And we have a mandate to be in the opposition,” he said.

He also scoffed at speculation that NCP boss Sharad Pawar was in the race for the post of Maharashtra chief minister.

Raut indirectly blamed the “arrogance” of the BJP for the current political scenario and said the situation wouldn’t have worsened had Fadnavis visited Uddhav’s residence “with a large heart” and begun talks soon after the poll results were announced on October 24.

“Despite (the BJP and the Sena) contesting in alliance and getting the mandate for government formation, the wheel of the chariot is stuck in the mud of arrogance,” the Rajya Sabha MP said in a column published in Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Sunday.

With talks between the Sena and the BJP in limbo, Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray are separately touring areas hit by unseasonal rain.

Fadnavis, who is under pressure to act fast as the term of the existing Assembly ends on November 9, told reporters in Akola that a government would soon be formed.

“The deadlock will end soon and a new government will be formed soon,” he said.

He said farmers were facing a calamity and it was imperative that a government is formed soon to give them relief.

Uddhav, who was in Aurangabad to take stock of crop losses because of the untimely rain last month, said he interacted with farmers in Kannad and Vaijapur. “Review of damages cannot be done from helicopter,” he said, in an apparent jibe at the state leadership.

The Sena chief did not commit any deadline for the formation of the government.

“You will come to know in the coming days if the Shiv Sena will be in power,” Uddhav said to a query by reporters at a news conference.

He refused to answer any more political questions.

Uddhav also demanded that the Centre explain to people how the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement would benefit the country. “What are the terms and conditions we are agreeing before signing the agreement tomorrow and how it will benefit the country. I think the issue hasn’t been discussed in Parliament,” he said.

The RCEP, comprising the 10-member Asean bloc and six other countries — India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — is engaged in negotiations for a free-trade pact.