The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his comments on the Rafale order by the top court.

The top court said it will hear the contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi along with the Rafale review petition next Tuesday.

On Monday, Gandhi had over his comment that was seen to attribute his political slogan ‘chowkidar chor hai’ to the Supreme Court. He said if the court felt he had attributed any remark to the Supreme Court, he regretted it.

The Congress boss said he had made the statement “in the heat of political campaigning” and his reaction to the April 10 court ruling on admissibility of documents in the review petition “unfortunately got juxtaposed and mingled with a political slogan”.

The BJP demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi and called him a “liar of the first order” in public opinion. “This was an attempt by Rahul Gandhi to manufacture a lie and create a controversy in the Rafale deal... He should apologise to the people of this country,” said BJP spokesperson G V L Narsimha Rao.

The Supreme Court had earlier this month allowed three sets of documents to be used in the Rafale review petition, rejecting protests from the government which cited various grounds including national security to block use of these papers.

Rahul Gandhi, who was in Amethi then to file his nomination papers, had reacted to the news, saying: “Now the Supreme Court has made it clear that ‘chowkidarji’ (watchman) has committed a theft… I want to directly challenge that the Supreme Court has stated that you have indulged in corruption.”

First Published: Apr 23, 2019 12:34 IST