Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha and senior Congress figure Rahul Gandhi conveyed regret to the Madhya Pradesh High Court regarding comments made in the 2018 state election campaign. Those remarks prompted a criminal defamation complaint by Kartikeya Singh Chouhan, son of former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
While presenting Gandhi’s challenge to the proceedings, his lawyer notified the Jabalpur Bench that the Congress leader upheld a public clarification issued the day after the speech and expressed sorrow over the mistaken reference to Kartikeya Singh Chouhan.
The disputed statement occurred at an election gathering in Jhabua on October 29, 2018, in connection with the Panama Papers issue. Counsel explained that Gandhi recognized the next day that Kartikeya Singh Chouhan had been named in error and issued a public correction on October 30, 2018, clarifying that the reference was meant for the son of the then Chhattisgarh chief minister, not Kartikeya Singh Chouhan or his father, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister at the time.
