The BJP’s reaction to the Supreme Court verdict on the Aadhaar scheme was subdued, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi staying silent and party chief Amit Shah choosing to focus on the Congress more than the ruling when he spoke up late in the evening.

Internally, party leaders said though the verdict was a big relief to the government as the court did not reject the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, there were issues it had flagged that could prove troublesome in the future. Party leaders said they needed to study the judgment in detail.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley welcomed the verdict in brief comments made while talking to reporters about a slew of cabinet decisions on Wednesday.

“It is a historic judgment and the whole concept of the unique identity number, that has been accepted after a judicial review, is an extremely welcome judgment,” Jaitley said.

Shah, who was in Rajasthan to mobilise the party for the year-end elections, was silent through the day as the verdict dominated headlines. Late in the evening, he posted tweets that appeared more to be more an answer to the Congress.

He picked on Rahul Gandhi’s tweet thanking the Supreme Court for protecting the Congress vision of Aadhaar. The BJP chief tweeted: “Yes, the Congress won today, just like they won Lok Sabha Polls in 2014.”

He further wrote: “Today’s Supreme Court Judgment is a strong validation of Aadhaar as an instrument of service delivery….”

Shah described the Aadhaar under the UPA as without “purpose” and said the Congress had tried to fight and defeat Aadhaar but stood “defeated” after the verdict.

The BJP desisted from holding any media conference on the verdict or issuing a statement. Spokesperson Sambit Patra, however, told PTI that the verdict was a victory for the “pro-poor Modi government”.

Modi, prone to maintain silence on adverse situations, had till late evening not tweeted anything about the judgment.

After the Supreme Court rulings on the instant triple talaq and the National Register of Citizens, however, the BJP leadership had promptly welcomed the verdicts.

Both Modi and party president Amit Shah continue to raise the subject of the instant talaq and accuse the Congress of playing politics with it.