Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid found himself at the centre of a controversy on Friday over his remarks that pictures of Batla House encounter had brought tears to the eyes of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Khurshid, who raised the controversial encounter during an election meeting in Azamgarh on Thursday in an apparent bid to woo Muslim voters, on Friday backtracked asserting he did not say that Sonia cried and he had only stated that she became "emotional".
"You have twisted my words out of context. I didn't say she(Sonia Gandhi) cried, I said she became emotional. She said the matter should be probed," Khurshid said when asked about his remarks on Congress president's reaction.
Addressing the election meeting, Khursheed said: "She (Sonia) told me to take the matter to the government and the matter reached till the stage of judicial enquiry but since it was the time of Lok Sabha elections the issue went to the court, he said hours before electioneering for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections came to an end.
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'Sonia never cried seeing Batla case pix, she was just emotional'
Photographs: Adnan Abidi/Reuters
"It sometimes so happens that one does not get favourable decisions from the court and it calls for patience," the Union minister said.
"There is some problem in this connection because of lack of coordination between cases going on in three states and we want speedy justice," he added.
The encounter on September 19, 2008, at Batla House led to the killing of Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chandra Sharma and two Indian Mujahideen terrorists while two other IM terrorists were arrested and another fled from the scene.
Khursheed also attacked the state government on the National Rural Health Mission scam.
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