Challenge before AAP is to perform

Rejoicing at a “big victory”, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called a Cabinet meeting to “discuss critical projects of public importance which were blocked so far.”

It also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wasting the AAP government's “precious three years” by taking away its powers through “illegal” orders.

A beaming Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal summed up his party's agenda months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls soon after the Supreme Court on Wednesday capped a bitter war between the AAP government and Lt Governor Anil Baijal over who is the boss of Delhi's administration.

The announcement of convening the Cabinet at 4 PM soon after the verdict and the decision at the meeting to “expedite proposals of doorstep delivery of rations and (installation of) CCTVs” showed AAP's priorities.

Kejriwal described the verdict as “a big victory for the people of Delhi...a big victory for democracy”

An adverse verdict could have cornered the AAP, which its opponents, the BJP and the Congress, accuse it as an "anarchist and confrontationist" administration that “hoodwink” people by putting the blame for non-performance at the Centre's door.

Though the AAP will highlight the “trouble” they faced from the Lt governor, the challenge for the party is immense as its 'performance' will be up for intense scrutiny.

The court said that the Lt governor should not act as an "obstructionist" and must go by the aid and advice of the Cabinet.

The verdict has given some vindication to AAP's campaign, which said its administration was crippled.

With the Lok Sabha elections just months away, a senior AAP leader said, the party will have to show some tangible results soon, to blunt the opponents' offensive.

The AAP leaders see the verdict as something that gives it leverage in political as well as administration spheres.

They feel the AAP government will now have more control on bureaucrats, who has been on the warpath over a series of issues.

Kejriwal's main target will be the BJP, keeping in mind the larger Opposition unity.

Kejriwal made it clear by saying, “if Modi government had not withdrawn the powers of elected govt through illegal orders, precious three years would have been saved.”

The AAP has already pitched that the Lt governor's actions were dictated by the Centre.

Though Kejriwal did not mention the Congress in his tweets after the court order, it appeared that he had left it to state leaders to target the grand-old party, which refused to endorse his recent protest against Lt governor, unlike other Opposition parties.

While echoing Kejriwal 's attack on Modi for the “chaos” in Delhi, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj targeted the Congress saying: “The powers enjoyed by (former chief minister of Delhi from the Congress) Sheila Dikshit for 15 years, have been reinstated back to elected Delhi government. The vindictive Modi government had stolen those powers in May 2015, Sheila Dikshit's lies have been exposed by the Supreme Court.”