Historic ruling, claims AAP; BJP says there is nothing to rejoice

The Opposition parties, except the Congress, rallied around the AAP and welcomed the Supreme Court verdict. The BJP also claimed victory and said the apex court had ruled out full statehood for Delhi. The Congress said the tussle between Centre and the State had affected governance.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal welcomed the verdict. “A big victory for the people of Delhi...a big victory for democracy,” Kejriwal tweeted. The Chief Minister met former Union Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram, who represented Delhi in Supreme Court, and thanked him. Chidambaram said on Twitter that the verdict is also a lesson for Puducherry, another Union Territory with an elected government.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia termed the judgment “historic”. “On behalf of the people of Delhi, I want to thank the Supreme Court, and the judges for this historic decision. They have pronounced that the people of Delhi are supreme,” Sisodia told reporters. “We have not yet read the judgment in full, but what the court has said that people are supreme, elected government will be supreme, and LG has no power to act arbitrarily,” he added.

The BJP said there is nothing to rejoice for AAP. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari told reporters that the apex court gave a “final warning” to the State government so that it works according to the established rules.

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court establishes that Constitution is the boss in Delhi and elsewhere in the country. It is also a final warning to the Kejriwal government to shun anarchism and follow the Constitution,” he said.

‘People caught in cross-fire’

The Congress welcomed the judgment but said the State government resorted to non-governance in the garb of conflict with the Centre.

“Congress has unequivocally maintained that the decision of elected representatives must be respected. However, no elected government, in the garb of a conflict, should resort to non-governance,” Congress’s media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

He added that people have been made victims of the ego clashes between the Chief Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There is no scope of for any blame game. Delhi gave seven seats to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and 67 out of 70 seats to the AAP in the Assembly elections. Both of them in the last four years have destroyed the development carried out by the Congress government while engaging in blame game,” Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said.

The CPI(M) said the role of the Lieutenant Governors and governors and the misuse of their offices is sharply focused in the judgment.

“The BJP propagates charade of ‘cooperative federalism’ and in reality it is destroying our federal structure,” the Left party said welcoming the judgment. “Governors and Lieutenant Governors cannot usurp the rights of an elected state government or encroach upon their rights. This is a victory of federalism,” a statement from the CPI(M) Politburo said.