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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi after the latter reportedly expressed "regret" in the Madhya Pradesh High Court regarding remarks made against Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son Kartikey Chouhan. Taking to the social media platform X, the Union Minister questioned the frequency of apologies tendered by prominent opposition figures following legal challenges over their statements. "Who has tendered more apologies after levelling false allegations--Rahul Gandhi ji or Arvind Kejriwal ji?" Rijiju posted. Who has tendered more apologies after leveling false allegations- Rahul Gandhi ji or Arvind Kejriwal ji ? https://t.co/2mScKgNQYG — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) June 26, 2026

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Gandhi Expresses 'Regret' in Defamation Case

The minister's remarks come after Gandhi on Thursday expressed regret before the Madhya Pradesh High Court over his alleged defamatory remarks about Kartikey Chouhan.

Following this, Chouhan filed a defamation complaint at the MP-MLA court in Bhopal against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that during an election rally in Jhabua in 2018, the LoP mentioned his name in relation to the Panama Papers leak scandal and tarnished his image. The court then issued a summons to Rahul Gandhi for personal appearance, and later, the Congress leader moved to the High Court. Now, after hearing the matter, the HC reserved its order in this regard.

Lawyer Explains Case Proceedings

Counsel for Kartikey Chouhan, advocate Sankalp Kochar, told ANI, "MP-MLA court Bhopal has issued summons against Rahul Gandhi in relation to the defamation case of Kartikey Chouhan. Prima facie, the court had found that the matter was fit for cognisance and that an offence was made out. The summons was issued directing Rahul Gandhi to appear in person before the court."

Against this background, Gandhi filed a petition before the High Court, contending that he should be given an opportunity to be heard and that the case registered against him was wrongly instituted, advocate Kochar said.

"When the hearing was held yesterday, Rahul Gandhi submitted a written statement expressing his regret. He stated that the remarks he made in 2018 were made under a misunderstanding and were based on incorrect facts. He reiterated that regret. Based on this, the court asked us to submit our written reply. In that written reply, we stated that since he himself is expressing regret and admitting his mistake of making that statement incorrectly and by mistake, we accepted his regret and expressed our intention to close the case. The court has now preserved the order in regard to the case," he added. (ANI)

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