Devendra Fadnavis
Devendra Fadnavis getting sworn-in as Maharashtra CMTwitter

In an incredible turnaround of political fortunes, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Saturday morning at 8 AM by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari to lead a government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra. Incredibly, Ajit Pawar, senior leader of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has been sworn-in as deputy CM. 

This comes as a massive surprise as Sharad Pawar, the seniormost leader of NCP had announced as late as Friday night that the discussions regarding an alliance between NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena have been completed and Uddhav Thackerey would soon become the CM. 

It is not fully clear as to the status of NCP and Ajit Pawar within this government. Whether Ajit Pawar has broken away from his party or has seceded the entire NCP legislative party from the main party is yet to be confirmed. According to reports, Ajit Pawar has indeed broken ranks from NCP along with a substantial number of elected MLA's to get the BJP across the line for the majority number.

There are even reports indicating the support of disgruntled Shiv Sena MLA's for the new alliance. The BJP had already claimed the support of several independent MLA's after falling short of the majority mark. 

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have taken to Twitter to congratulate the CM and deputy CM.  

In the first reaction from the Congress party, their veteran leader and spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi has tweeted: "Surreal wht I read abt #Maharashtra. Thought it was fake news. Candidly &personally speaking, our tripartite negotiations shd not have gone on for more than 3 days...took too long. Window given was grabbed by fast movers. #pawarji tussi grt ho! Amazing if true, still not sure."