All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh backtracked on his own remarks about retired Supreme Court judge Justice Santosh Hegde, who is currently on the Lokpal Bill draft committee. '

Referring to his earlier press conference on Thursday when he nearly ran down Hegde , the Congress leader told mediapersons, "I never meant any disrespect to him, who I hold in very high esteem."

Singh sought to clarify "I was only trying to point out that Lokpal Bill alone will not eradicate corruption from this country. In that context, while citing the example of Karnataka, I had said that even though we all acknowledge that the Karnataka Lokayukta Act was the most effective in the country and the office was held by a powerful judge such as Justice Hegde, still there was unabated corruption in the state run by Chief Minister Yeddyurappa."

Significantly, this followed Hegde's offer to step down from the bill draft committee in the wake of Singh's remarks.