Congress puts up brave face, Owaisi calls it self-goal

AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, however, said the Opposition had adopted a wrong method, and called the decision “on expected lines”. He said, “Opposition parties should not have approached the Supreme Court. Politics is not done like this. You gave the BJP a handle to say what they were doing was right and the Supreme Court has rejected the Opposition plea. You cannot do politics like this against BJP, especially when Narendra Modi is leading it. You should have done something which would have given some concrete results…now the BJP will go to town saying the Supreme Court ruled in its favour.”

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared for the parties in court, said the fact that the court allowed the parties to withdraw their plea “at this stage” ensured that the door was open for them to approach the court again.

“The court heard us with great patience. They ultimately did not entertain it but did not express a single opinion on the merits,” he said. “They (the bench) allowed the matter to be withdrawn. They recorded that at this stage…which means that full liberty is there for us to come again on new facets and new grounds.”

He said the “building blocks were felt to be too broad by the court at this stage.”

Trinamool Congress leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said, “We bow to the majesty of the Supreme Court. Exploring a judicial coalition on this issue was an option. That does not mean other issues cannot be found to form a legal coalition.”