Cong chief to say formal sorry in affidavit, admits misquoting court in chor jibe
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday admitted he made a mistake by misquoting the Supreme Court judgment in the Rafale deal and said he is ready to offer an apology to the court for wrongly attributing to it the “chowkidar chor hai” remark, which has been one of the main slogans of the Congress in the Lok Sabha poll campaign.
The SC gave another opportunity to Rahul to file one more affidavit relating to his alleged contemptuous “chowkidar chor hai” remark, which the apex court said was wrongly attributed to it. Referring to the previous affidavit filed by Rahul, his counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it is a mistake that the affidavit did not contain the word “apology” and a fresh one would be filed.
“I have checked the dictionary, regret means apology. (But) I will say apology,” Singhvi told the court.
Sanghvi admitted Rahul made a mistake by wrongly attributing the remark to the apex court. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that in the affidavit filed, at one point the Congress president is admitting the mistake and at one point denying of making contemptuous remarks.
“We have great difficulty in understanding what you want to say in the affidavit,” said the Bench, also comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph. After Singhvi assured the court that he would “make a correction” and file a “better affidavit” on Monday, the court said, “It is open for the respondent to file affidavit.” The acceptance of any such affidavit will be considered on Monday, said the Bench.
The top court told Rahul’s counsel that it is not concerned with the political stand narrated in the affidavit. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who had filed the contempt petition against Rahul, said it is the grossest kind of contempt. The court posted the matter for hearing on May 6.