Rahul must apologise for misleading country on Rafale deal: Nadda

Coming down heavily on Congress leader after the Supreme Court dismissed all review petitions in the Rafale case, BJP working president JP Nadda said on Thursday said that Rahul Gandhi should offer apologies to the nation for misleading the people about the jet deal.

"Supreme Court has dismissed Review Petition on Rafale. SC says that Rahul Gandhi should not have made political comments without reading the full order. He needs to be more careful in future. We do not want to continue proceedings any further, "Nadda tweeted.

He also took a jibe at Gandhi's foreign visits and tweeted: "From Road to Parliament, Rahul Gandhi and his party tried hard to mislead the country on this issue but Truth Prevailed. I wish Rahul Gandhi would be in the country and should make apologies to the nation."

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the review petitions challenging its verdict in the Rafale case passed on December 14, 2018, upholding the 36 Rafale jets deal.

A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph passed the order on a batch of petitions seeking review of its December 14, 2018 verdict which had upheld purchase of 36 Rafale jets by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government from France.

Meanwhile, the apex court closed the contempt petition filed by BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks.

The Supreme Court accepted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's apology for wrongly attributing his infamous "chowkidar chor hai" remark in Rafale case to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opined that a person holding a place of importance in political spectrum should have been more careful.

"Rahul Gandhi needs to be more careful in the future. It was unfortunate," a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said in their verdict.