Rahul expresses regret again, Lekhi shoots off reply: Bid to justify remark

Rahul had filed the April 22 affidavit in response to the apex court’s order seeking an explanation from him for his remarks. The court had not issued a notice to Rahul then but did so on April 23.

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Rahul had filed the April 22 affidavit in response to the apex court’s order seeking an explanation from him for his remarks.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court, expressing “regret” again for attributing the ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ remark to the court.

The fresh affidavit, which was filed in response to the notice issued by the top court on a criminal contempt plea by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi, reiterated what Rahul had said in an earlier affidavit filed on April 22.

Meanwhile, Lekhi, in a reply filed to Rahul’s April 22 affidavit, said the Congress president had not tendered an unconditional apology and was considering even the contempt proceedings “political campaigning”.

The BJP leader’s reference was to a statement in Rahul’s affidavit which sought “to reaffirm his stand and belief and that of his party that the Rafale deal is a tainted transaction and a gross and brazen abuse of executive power and a leading example of the corruption of the BJP government led by Prime Minister Modi, which deserves to be investigated thoroughly by a Joint Parliamentary Committee and proceeded against thereafter”.

Lekhi said the “statement has no relevance with the present contempt proceedings faced by the alleged contemnor and have been solely made to sensationalise and unnecessarily politicise the pending proceedings. It is clear that even the present proceedings are considered to be “political campaigning” by the alleged contemnor”.

Rahul had filed the April 22 affidavit in response to the apex court’s order seeking an explanation from him for his remarks. The court had not issued a notice to Rahul then but did so on April 23.

Responding to the notice, the Congress president in his fresh affidavit repeated that “my statement was made in the heat of political campaigning” and “it has been used (and misused) by my political opponents to project that I had deliberately and intentionally suggested that this Court had said Chowkidar Chor Hai!”.

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It said that the statement was made in the context of the April 10 order of the court regarding admissibility of certain documents in the Rafale review matter pending before it. Lekhi said “from the tone, tenor and language used in the purported ‘explanation’ of the alleged contemnor, it is clear that the alleged contemnor has not tendered any apology or expressed any remorse in the affidavit”.

“It is submitted that under the purported ‘explanation’ of the alleged contemnor, in the garb of a ‘bona fide general perception’, the alleged contemnor has sought to justify the contemptuous statement made by him…” Lekhi submitted.