Anil Deshmukh, the Minister of State for Education and Cultural Affairs and one of the leaders of the group, said the group had already placed its demand before Chief Minister Manohar Joshi.

Joshi has hinted that he would expand the Cabinet on December 7. At present, there are three Independents in the Government. They are Anil Deshmukh, Babasaheb Dhabekar and Harshawardhan Patil.

He said Independents had been backing Thackeray's suggestion that the Government provide free power to farmers.

He also admitted that some Independent MLAs had met the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar recently and had expressed desire to rejoin the Congress. However, he claimed that he had not met Pawar so far in this connection.