NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi should make “Sorry” his middle name after he expressed regret over alleged defamatory remarks against Kartikeya Singh, son of Union minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan.Also Read | ‘Mistake’: Rahul tenders apology for 2018 remark linking Shivraj, son to ‘Panama Papers’Ahead of the 2018 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, Gandhi, then the Congress president, had linked Kartikeya Singh to the Panama Papers leak scandal during a public speech. The remarks prompted Kartikeya Singh to file a defamation case against the Congress leader in a Bhopal MP-MLA court.On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer informed the Madhya Pradesh high court that the statement was not related to Kartikeya Singh.Reacting to this, BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya wrote on X: “Rahul Gandhi should perhaps make ‘Sorry’ his middle name. One has lost count of the number of times he has had to apologise, express regret, or retract his defamatory and irresponsible statements. The latest instance comes in the defamation case filed by Kartikeya Singh, son of Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Rahul Gandhi has now approached the Madhya Pradesh high court expressing regret, stating that the remarks in question were not even related to Kartikeya Singh.”Malviya also questioned why the Lok Sabha leader of the opposition made the statement if it was not about Kartikeya Singh.“Time and again, Rahul Gandhi makes sensational allegations, grabs headlines, and when challenged in court or confronted with facts, retreats behind apologies and expressions of regret. A Leader of Opposition is expected to exercise responsibility, not indulge in reckless accusations and then disown them later. For Rahul Gandhi, defamation seems to have become a habit and apologies a recurring ritual. The country deserves better than a leader who speaks first and thinks later,” he added.Rahul Gandhi has previously stated that he is not “not Savarkar to apologise” — a reference to right-wing ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, whom the Congress has accused of seeking clemency from the British during the freedom struggle.In 2019, Gandhi tendered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court over remarks linked to its observations in the Rafale fighter jet case.At the time, Gandhi had repeatedly targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal and popularised the slogan “chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief) during the Lok Sabha election campaign.The BJP subsequently moved a contempt petition against him, alleging that he had incorrectly attributed remarks to the apex court.
