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The weekend newspapers have been studies in contrast with their coverage of the political turmoil in Maharashtra. Print and TV news told completely different stories Saturday and Sunday.
In the wee hours of Saturday, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as chief minister and now an unprecedented BJP-NCP alliance is in power in Maharashtra.
The Telegraph’s bold headline Sunday read, “We the idiots”, referring to the fact that the voters, perhaps, aren’t the only idiots here.
“While you were sleeping”, The Indian Express said, reporting on how the entire political equation in Maharashtra changed overnight — and how Saturday woke up to a coup within the NCP, with president Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar breaking away from the proposed alliance with the Shiv Sena and the Congress and offering support to the BJP.
Deccan Chronicle, meanwhile, went with the headline “WTFadnavis”, combining the popular unprintable exclamation with the new CM’s name. Its strap read: “Midnight coup: Ajit Pawar rebels, ditches uncle to back BJP govt”.
Saturday
Saturday morning, most newspapers were caught on the wrong foot. Indian Express wrote “Maha-gathbandhan moves closer, Uddhav Thackeray set to become Chief Minister”; Hindustan Times reported “Allies say Uddhav will be CM for 5 yrs”; Times of India was still unsure and posed a question in its headline — “Will Thackeray drop remote, take direct control of Maharashtra?”; The Hindu, in its straitlaced fashion wrote “Uddhav to be Maharashtra CM”.
Sunday
Sunday’s headlines underwent a complete transformation as newspapers tried to play catch up. Most mainstream newspapers devoted their entire front pages to the drama that had unfolded after midnight Friday-Saturday, with a blow-by-blow account of the developments.
HT said, “Maharashtra drama continues: Fadnavis is CM, Ajit his deputy”. Express noted that Ajit Pawar was later sacked as legislature party leader, as most MLAs who gave him support are back with Sharad Pawar. It also carried the Congress’ reaction on Page 1. “Outsmarted and outmanoeuvred in the Maharashtra game of thrones, the Congress accused the central government of ‘throttling democracy’,” wrote Express.
TOI has a cricket hangover and its headline read, “The real day-night test in in Mumbai”. In the strap, it wrote, “a pink ball no one saw coming”, and how Saturday’s developments proved that “politics make for strange bedfellows”. TOI also called the developments “a thriller out of the playbook of guerilla warfare”.
The Hindu’s headline was fairly straightforward — “Fadnavis sworn in as CM after Ajit Pawar ditches uncle”. However, even The Hindu was forced to call the developments Saturday an “action-packed thriller” in an accompanying graphic.