In a reversal of roles, senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday appeared for the Adani group before the Supreme Court — where Adani Power is seeking around Rs 1,400 crore as a late payment surcharge (LPS) from Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited.

The discom in BJP-ruled Rajasthan is represented by a virulent critic of the Narendra Modi-dispensation, Dushyant Dave.

A bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sanjay Kumar who heard the duo for over three hours, reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the miscellaneous application moved by Adani Power.

The Adani firm’s plea before the bench was in the news after the apex court on Tuesday pulled up its registry for not listing the case for unspecified reasons despite a judicial order to post it.

Dave was engaged by the previous Ashok Gehlot-government of the Congress in January last year.

Despite the BJP storming to power in the state, JVVNL chose to retain Dave reflecting his perceived expertise in corporate dispute and indispensability in handling the case. Dave is also a trenchant critique of the Adanis.

On the other side of the spectrum, Singhvi, one of the most formidable corporate lawyers and Congress MP, a party which has no love lost for the Adanis because of the latter’s “proximity” to the BJP government, appeared for the Gujarat-based entity.

However, it is an admitted fact in the legal fraternity that despite political or ideological differences, lawyers often appear for the other side.

Former attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi had appeared for political leaders such as Karnataka Congress strongman D.K. Sivakumar. Even as AG, Rohatgi had appeared for a liquor lobby in Kerala.