‘Mistake’: Rahul tenders apology for 2018 remark linking Shivraj, son to ‘Panama Papers’

Bhopal/Jabalpur: Congress MP and Opposition floor leader in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, tendered an unconditional apology before the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court, over a remark at a public meeting in Jhabua district in the run-up to the 2018 assembly elections, claiming Kartikey Singh Chouhan, son of Union agriculture minister and then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, featured in the list of prominent figures named in the ‘Panama Papers’.An application to this effect was presented before a single bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agarwal during a hearing on a plea filed on Rahul’s behalf, seeking his exemption from personal appearance in a special court in Bhopal where Kartikey had filed a defamation suit against him over the statement.Senior counsel Ajay Gupta, who appeared on behalf of Rahul before the Jabalpur bench, told TOI that his client, in a written statement that was presented in court, acknowledged that what he said at the Jhabua meeting was a ‘mistake’ as it was then-Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and his son, who were allegedly named in the ‘Panama Papers’, and not Shivraj and his son.According to the written application, Rahul retracted his statement the very next morning, as soon as he realised his ‘mistake’, adding that he regretted the remark if it had hurt anyone.Gupta said the Congress MP had filed a similar statement with the Bhopal court as well, but it chose to register a defamation suit against him and proceed with trial.Gupta moved a plea on Rahul’s behalf on Tuesday, seeking an exemption of physical appearance before the special magistrate’s court, which is typically designated for trial in criminal cases against politicians.The court had summoned Rahul for a hearing on the defamation suit on Thursday.Despite Rahul’s apology, the court will hear the case on Thursday.