An aggrieved Sharad Pawar met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a day after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and his lieutenant Praful Patel were believed to have offered to resign from the Cabinet apparently over the No.2 position in the Government.

Pawar drove down to Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence to discuss "coalition issues", NCP sources said.

Agriculture Minister Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Patel are understood to have sent in their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late Thursday. The Prime Minister has refused to accept the resignations, sources told media.

The Congress-NCP rift has implications for the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in which Pawar's party has nine Lok Sabha members. The signs of trouble were apparent when Pawar and Patel boycotted the cabinet meeting.