A professor of English at a college in Gadchandur in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra applied for leave on Saturday, claiming that he fell sick after watching the political developments in the state, PTI reported. However, the college principal denied leave to the professor, Zaheer Syed.

“I have been completely shaken by the political earthquake in Maharashtra today,” Syed wrote to the college principal

Early on Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra, along with Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy. The development was unexpected because the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress had almost finalised an alliance deal the previous evening.

“I fell sick and went into shock in the morning after watching the news about unfolding political drama in the state,” Syed said, according to PTI. The professor’s request for leave went viral on social media.

The BJP had won 105 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, results of which were announced on October 24. The Shiv Sena, which was in an alliance with the BJP, won 56 seats. However, the BJP refused to accede to the Shiv Sena’s demand for the chief minister’s post for two-and-a-half years, following which the Sena began negotiations with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. President’s Rule was declared in Maharashtra on November 12, even as the negotiations continued.

After the BJP formed a government on Saturday, the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party moved the Supreme Court, seeking an urgent hearing against Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to invite the BJP to form the government in the middle of the night. The Supreme Court on Sunday sought the letters of support on the basis of which Koshyari had invited the BJP to form the government in the state.