Congress president Rahul Gandhi met Sharad Pawar last night, hours after the BJP lost two vital parliamentary strongholds in Uttar Pradesh to the combined force of the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP.

Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule was also in yesterday's meeting, which took place at her home in Delhi. In fact, it was Sule who organised the meeting between her father and Rahul.

Rahul has always had a good working relationship with Sule and confides about political developments to her.  

When Sonia Gandhi hosted a dinner for leaders of 17 opposition parties on Tuesday, it was Rahul Gandhi who who was seen engaging Sharad Pawar with both seated at the same table.

This Rahul-Pawar meeting marks the Congress president's attempts to bring together anti-BJP parties and also explore an alliance to challenge the BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, in the general election due in 2019.