In a dramatic turn of events, the BJP turned the table on its rivals when a faction of NCP politicians broke away under the leadership of Ajit Pawar and formed government in Maharashtra with Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister.

This is a major twist, since NCP Sharad Pawar had only yesterday announced that Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray would be the chief minister in the state, with support from both the NCP and the Congress. But clearly, the BJP had something else in mind.

While this "maha" twist was completely unexpected, what struck Twitterati was the fact that most Indian newspapers had, by morning, published news with headlines claiming that Uddhav Thackeray is all set to be the new Chief Minister. Many pointed out that this makes evident the sad truth of print media having a shorter shelf life than digital media or television today.

This overnight bedlam, apart from making us ask "What just happened in Maharashtra?", has also raised a serious question - Is print media fighting a losing battle against digital media?

That is what netizens seem to think. More than shock and furore over the political crisis in the state, they seemed to be more excited to share photos of newspaper headlines which are in sharp contrast to breaking news on television.

What just happened in Maharashtra!! The headline of the newspapers and the ones on TV #MaharashtraPolitics #FadnavisCM — Pari (@pari_d) November 23, 2019

2 minutes of silence to all newspaper agency who printed last night that Ss-NCP-INC will form government in Maharashtra n UT will become CM #MaharashtraPolitics — Abhijeet Paliwal (@abhijeet2510) November 23, 2019

An hour into reading morning newspaper- Uddhav to be Next CM. Picks up phone- Devendra Fadnavis takes oath as Maharashtra CM. pic.twitter.com/wi8ICR7KGq — Bella Ciao (@dbkothari) November 23, 2019

In the Maharashtra political drama, the biggest loser are the newspapers. They must be looking at their headlines today and cringing. — Partha Sinha (@parthasinha) November 23, 2019

#BreakingNews Today Saamana will not distribute newspaper as it had already printed news about Uddhav Thackeray becoming CM of Maharashtra.#MaharashtraGovtFormation #Maharashtra — Just another guy (@DarshuBhatia) November 23, 2019

One of those days when the early morning newspapers seem to be stale / old by 8:30AM #Maharashtra — Amit Bobde (@malkhedkar) November 23, 2019

Turnaround in #Maharashtra is a big surprise.Newspapers declared Uddhav Thackeray as CM.Fadnavis has been sworn in as CM at 8 am.Dost dost na raha...kaun hai dost kaun hai https://t.co/bGSItsNu7p politics mantra is to allign with those who save your ass, ideology be damned 1/2 — Anisha Nayar Dhawan (@AnishaNDhawan) November 23, 2019

Newspapers Headlines. Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena forming govt in Maharashtra, and in TV BJP has already form the govt here. #MaharashtraPolitics #MaharashtraPolitics — Anmol (@Artistic_Anmol) November 23, 2019

Today's Newspaper vs Television ... And now onwards RIP Newspaper ... #Maharashtra #Devendrafadnavis pic.twitter.com/j1JjPTWKbk — ପ୍ର: ଡଃ ବଡ ସାର୍ ‍ Dr. RR Sahoo (@srrashmi1) November 23, 2019

Sharad Pawar seems hellbent on reducing a newspaper's shelf life!! :))) Maharashtra politics can not get more entertaining... pic.twitter.com/O1LfYbU9b9 — Anant Goenka (@anantgoenka) November 23, 2019

Turns out BJP's overnight coup had more than one intended effect, it also shed light on the one advantage that electronic media has over print media - time, which clearly waits for no one and newspapers today learnt it the hard way.