Tone of disbelief, playing on puns: How newspapers reacted to Maha political shocker

Front page headlines across the country on Sunday carried matter-of-fact tones as well as those of disbelief and sarcasm, a day after morning newspapers were caught on the wrong foot following an overnight change in the political developments in Maharashtra. 

Newspapers on Saturday morning had carried headlines declaring Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray to be the next Maharashtra chief minister. However, the political scenario in the state had already changed by the time the dailies arrived to people's doorsteps, with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis making a sudden come back as the CM.

Given the previous day's political shocker, Sunday's front page headlines across the country played with words to describe the surprise element of the situation. While the headline of The Hindu used ample words to point out the coup in the NCP: "Fadnavis sworn in as CM after Ajit Pawar ditches uncle", the Indian Express wrote across the page: "While you were sleeping" emphasising the odd nature of the early morning developments. 

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One daily's story on the political twist ran with "Maharashtra drama continues: Fadnavis is CM, Ajit his deputy". Another Mumbai-based daily drew a comparison with the ongoing India-Bangladesh day-night test match in Kolkata. "The real Day-Night test is in Mumbai," the headline read.

Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna covered the event with harsh words that read: "Height of shameless politics, Ajit Pawar's revolt fizzles out". A few newspapers mentioned the dispute in the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.  While one read: "Pawar outplays Pawar in Maha stunt", another said "Maha coup - the inside story" as the headline, and yet another carried the story with "Confusion after coup". "Pawar coup unsettles Sena," read another paper's headline.

Vernacular dailies too grabbed the chance to run witty headlines. Prominent Hindi dailiesplayed with the name 'Pawar'. While one's headline read "Pawarful Politics", another carried "Pawar brake" on its front page. Drewing comparison with a game of chess due to the surprising move by the BJP, a Rajasthan daily's headline read: "Shah...maat...phir shanshay (Check...mate...then doubt)". 

A Hindi newspaper also compared the news to a game of chess while making a pun on the word 'Shah'.  "Sha(a)h aur maat (check and mate)," it read.  A Bengali daily compared the surprise political move to India's retaliation across the Line of Control in 2016. The paper ran the story with "surgical strike" as its headline.

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A number of newspapers focussed on the late-night nature of the political turnaround. A Bengali daily carried the headline "BJP captures Maharashtra at midnight", Ganashakti ran with "Big forgery at midnight". Tamil dailies also focussed on the midnight angle in their headlines. "The nation was sleeping, a political earthquake happened, unexpected twist in Maharashtra, BJP forms govt," wrote one.

Two Malayalam dailies carried the headlines "Midnight treachery" and "Strike at dark, sabotage", respectively.

Till Friday, political pundits as well as media houses remained focused on the then ongoing talks between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena to form the government in the western state. Some front page headlines also carried an initial disbelief after Fadnavis was sworn-in as the CM. Two Telugu dailies carried: "Maha scene reverse" and "Maratha...Ulta-Pulta", respectively. While one portal's story ran with "Maha midnight stunner", another Hindi daily carried a proverb depicting something that changes instantly. "Maharashtra me pal me tola, pal me masha," it read.

As most newspapers remained in the ambit of being witty or even sarcastic, some went ahead and printed front pages with rather hard-hitting and unusual headlines. "Chichen coop...government cackle at dawn after a midnight start," read a Telugu daily headline. Known for its blunt cum catchy headlines, a Kolkata-based daily carried "We, the idiots" as the headline, hinting at the beginning of the Preamble to the Indian Constitution with "We, the people".

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