Justice Iyer apologises for attack on Rahul Gandhi

Former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, who had launched a scathing attack on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on Monday sent an apology letter to him.

"Forgive me if I have been bitter in my letter to you. I am too old (97) and critical of parties like Communist Party of India Marxist and the Congress for governmental delinquencies," Iyer wrote.

Iyer's comments came in the wake of a letter written by Gandhi to the former judge, in response to his first letter, urging the Congress leader to take steps to tackle corruption.

Iyer had criticised Rahul Gandhi, saying the Gandhi scion lacked ideology and that he was not a socialist by conviction.

He further said that people flock to his rallies just to see him and not to listen to his speeches.

"He has nothing new to say to this country. He is not a socialist by conviction. He has no ideology at all. When he goes to the villages, people come to see him out of curiosity," Iyer added.

Responding to Iyer's letter, Gandhi had said, "Like most right thinking Indian people, I feel exactly the same way as you do. I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking and working to improve what I see as a rotten system."

"The difference is that I cannot get away simply with writing letters and complaining as you can. I am faced with the reality of changing things which requires much more than periodic release of emotion," he added.

Justice Iyer was a Supreme Court judge between 1973 and 1980.

In 1989, in cooperation with like-minded social activists, he had founded a forum named Independent Initiative to monitor polls, a task that was appreciated by several countries around the world.