Rahul Gandhi ‘regret’ in SC again over remarks

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the contempt petition against him by the BJP, describing it a political move and a bid to gag him in the political discourse during the ongoing general election.

Mr Gandhi, in his affidavit, contended that the contents of the explanation submitted to the court on April 22 were comprehensive, and may be read as a part of the present reply. Although both explanations submitted in court are similar, the affidavits do express “regret” but don’t offer an apology.

The Congress president urged that BJP’s New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, by filing the contempt petition, was trying to drag the court into a political controversy and taking political mileage. He said Ms Lekhi should pay for abusing the judicial process by filing this contempt petition.

In his fresh affidavit, he expressed “regret” once again for ascribing the comments to the Supreme Court and said this had happened in the “heat of political campaigning”. Mr Gandhi said his remarks were not meant to “scandalise” the court in any manner.

The fresh affidavit was in response to the Supreme Court notice issued after lawyer Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi told the court last week it had “not issued notice” to his client, but sought an explanation. At this, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued a notice to the Congress president.

The court will take up his affidavit in response to the contempt notice on Tuesday. The court has already exempted him from personal appearance.

The Congress president, justifying his stand, said: “The Rafale issue had been and continues to be one of the most prominent political and social issues in this country for many months, and despite the matter being sub judice has been the subject of incessant discussion in civil society and the media.”

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