New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi this morning expressed regret in the Supreme Court for “incorrectly” attributing his ‘Chowkidar Narendra Modi Chor Hai’ remarks to the top court’s verdict in the Rafale case.

In response to a contempt petition filed against him in the SC, Gandhi said that the statement was made in the heat of the political campaign and his remarks were misused by his opponents. “My statement was made in the heat of political campaigning… my political opponents wrongly projected that I had deliberately and intentionally suggested that SC had said ‘Chowkidar Chor hai”. Nothing could be farther from my mind,” Gandhi said.

BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi, a sitting Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi Constituency, had moved the Apex Court, alleging that Gandhi attributed his personal remarks to the Top Court and tried to create a prejudice.

The Apex Court, which last December cleared the Modi government of allegations of irregularities over the Rafale deal with France, on Apr. 10, said it will hear a review petition on the basis of some ‘leaked’ documents, referred to by the petitioners who have demanded a probe.

It dismissed the government’s preliminary objections claiming “privilege” over them. After the Court decision, Gandhi had said, “I am happy and I have   been saying so for months that India’s PM has given the Air Force’s money to (industrialist) Anil Ambani, and the SC has accepted it. The SC is going to investigate it.”

After hearing Lekhi’s petition, the Top Court gave a categorical clarification that in its Rafale judgment there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the alleged contemptuous observation that “Chowkidar Narendra Modi Chor Hai” as has been attributed to it by Rahul Gandhi.