Rahul Gandhi brackets apology over Supreme Court order remark

Rahul Gandhi told the Supreme Court on Monday that his remark linking the court's recent order on Rafale deal to his slogan 'Chowkidar chor hai' was made in the heat of political campaigning and should not be construed as a court finding. He expressed his "regret" over the "unfortunate references" in parentheses.

The Congress president's affidavit comes in response to a contempt petition, filed against him by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, which is slated to be heard by the court today.

The plea stated the Congress president had misrepresented the court order, by suggesting that the court had said 'Chowkidar chor hai'.

Blaming Lekhi for trying to gain political mileage by putting words in his mouth that Gandhi said he never intended, the Congress chief gave instances of remarks made to the media by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some union ministers which conveyed that the Supreme Court had given the Centre a clean chit on the fighter jet deal.

This, Gandhi said, was "misinformation", since review petitions were admitted in the open court against that very decision of the court on December 14, 2018. It was to counter this, said Gandhi, that he made this statement, which should be seen in a purely political context.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who vetted the affidavit, is likely to appear for Gandhi in court.

Gandhi admitted to saying what was attributed to him by the petitioner, but denied imputing any intention to the court. "It is also clear that no court would ever do that and hence the unfortunate references (for which I express regret) to the court order and to the political slogan... ought not to be construed as suggesting that the court had given any finding or conclusion on that issue," the affidavit stated.

Gandhi's affidavit also stated, "My statement... has been used (and misused) by my political opponents to project that I had intentionally suggested this court had said 'Chowkidar chor hai'. Nothing could be farther from my mind."

Gandhi had drawn flak for his comments as the court on April 15 clarified that the views attributed to it by the Congress chief were incorrect as the issue decided upon was the admissibility of certain documents and nothing more.

Gandhi said he was grateful for the said clarification and as a "responsible political and public figure and head of a 130-year old political party," the juxtaposition of his political and legal stands got clarified in the latest order by the court.

Gandhi also hit back at Lekhi saying that the petition was filed purely for political mileage and personal gain. He said that the "ulterior motive" of the petition was to drag the court into a political controversy in an attempt to "gag" him from continuing his political discourse in the ongoing elections.