Friday's political drama in Maharashtra and installation of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis have found pride of place in all the English newspapers on Sunday, with most of them adding spice to the stories with unique headlines.
BJP leader Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister on Saturday morning. The developments was a bolt from the blue as it came a few hours after seasoned politician and leader of NCP Sharad Pawar had announced on Friday night that Shiv Sena leader Udhav Thackeray would be sworn-in as the chief minister with the support of NCP and Congress. While BJP defended Fadnavis' appointment, opposition described it as 'murder of democracy.'
Hyderbad-based newspaper Deccan Chronicle ran the spiciest headline. 'WTFadnavis', screamed its lead headline, taking a dig at the political drama.
Telegraph, the Kolkata-based newspaper that is known for hard-hitting headlines, did not disappoint readers on Sunday too. 'We the idiots', read the paper's lead headline, criticising the roles of President Ramnath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah played in installing Fadnavis as the chief minister.
'The real day-night Test is in Mumbai', read The Sunday Times of India's lead headline, which drew analogy between the day-night cricket Test between India and Bangladesh, which is currently underway in Kolkata.
The newspaper described the midnight coup and political realignments in a few sentences. "In this very space in yesterday’s edition, we’d written about how ‘politics makes for strange bedfellows’, referring to the tie-up between ideological and political adversaries Shiv Sena and NCP-Cong. The dramatic developments of Friday night and Saturday prove that even a few hours–let alone a week–is a long time in politics."
Hindustan Times and The Hindu seem to have treaded cautiously in reporting the developments.
Hindustan Times ran the headline: 'Maharshtra drama continues: Fadnavis is CM, Ajit his deputy'.
The Hindu stuck to its traditional style. 'Fadnavis sworn in as CM after Ajit Pawar ditches uncle', read the newspaper's lead headline.
Mumbai Mirror ran an exclusive story on its front page titled 'Operator on the line', describing how Ajith Pawar's stealth attack was engineered.
The Sunday Express also highlighted the reticent manner in which the whole procedure of government formation took place. While you were sleeping, the paper's lead headline read.
