Nine independent legislators met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday night and expressed their unconditional support to the Congress to lead the Maharashtra government.

The development took place as the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party stuck to their positions on the issue.

The two sides are now expected to hold their second round of talks on October 23 after the Dussehra festival.

Harshavardhan Patil, who led the MLAs, said Gandhi welcomed their support and assured them that the party would give them "total cooperation".

The Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Prithiviraj Chavan, accompanied them.

Patil said that two more independents would extend support to the Congress on Thursday.

According to him, those who met Gandhi were Satej alias Banti Patil, Madan Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sadashivrao Patil, Pratap Patil Chiklekar, Dattuanna Patil, Sunil Kedar and Ramprasad Bordikar.