An early-morning presidential order sets ball in motion

NEWDELHI: On Friday evening, as an unlikely three-party coalition of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress appeared set to stake its claim to power in Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Bhupender Yadav landed in Mumbai.

All eyes, and television cameras, were trained on the YB Chavan Centre in Nariman Point with analysts expecting the three parties to announce a bid to form government any moment. No one noticed when Ajit Pawar quietly slipped out of the meeting around 9pm to hold talks with Yadav.

It would be the culmination of weeks of tense negotiations that had tottered on the verge of collapse several times, only to be resuscitated by the BJP brass, including Devendra Fadnavis and party chief Amit Shah. After talking to at least six top BJP leaders and aides, who wished to remain anonymous, HT has pieced together an account of the roller-coaster talks that ended in the surprise early morning swearing-in of Fadnavis as chief minister and NCP’s Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

Once Ajit Pawar and Yadav metonFridaynight,talksmoved at lightning speed – necessitated by the possibility that the threeparty coalition could stake its claim on Saturday.

Most of the groundwork for the alliance had been laid when Ajit Pawar, who was also the leader of the NCP legislature party until being removed on Saturday evening, came to Delhi earlier in the week to meet top BJP leaders.