Sulking BJP leader Gopinath Munde appears to be moving closer to the Congress.

An indication to this effect was available on Wednesday as Munde has not met any BJP central leaders especially L K Advani after his arrival here last night from Mumbai.

"Munde appears to have made up his mind to go to Congress," conceded a senior BJP leader who declined to be named.

There was speculation that Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan along with Munde met Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, but there was no confirmation.

The Maharashtra chief minister, who is here apparently to give an assessment to the party high command on the Munde issue, met Patel late last night.

A feeling in the BJP camp is that Munde appears to have come to the conclusion that his grievance are unlikely to be resolved by meeting Nitin Gadkari.

Gadkari was junior to Munde in state politics and after he took over as the national president, Munde's clout has gone down in the organisation.

Meanwhile, union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is known to be close to Munde, has also arrived in Delhi to be at hand for possible consultations.

Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who like Munde hails from Marathwada region, met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday.