Maharashtra braced for President's rule after an extraordinary day when the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena dubbed each other liars, over what transpired during power-sharing talks before polls. The BJP has 105 MLAs and ally Shiv Sena 56. People voted the alliance back to power, but with the term of the Assembly ending on Saturday, no government was formed due to the divide over who will be the CM.

The ugly fracas was reignited on Friday with Devendra Fadnavis reiterating that the Sena wasn't promised a CM stint during the February negotiations. The CM blamed the delay in the formation of the government on the Sena, saying the latter had already made up its mind to explore options other than the BJP even on the day of results. He said the Sena must immediately correct its course and stop lashing out at PM Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah if the alliance was to continue further.