The Congress Thursday said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's regret over his saffron terror remark was not a u-turn, and was meant only to assuage the hurt feelings of a political party and ensure smooth functioning of parliament.
"There is no u-turn... the home minister's statement (made initially in Jaipur, linking the BJP and RSS with terrorism), may be factually correct but he expressed regret so no political party feels hurt," Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko told reporters.
Shinde Wednesday expressed regret for having made the remark, after the BJP threatened that it would not allow parliament to function until the home minister apologised.
Shinde met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj separately after the Speaker's all-party meeting Wednesday, and expressed regret.
While the BJP welcomed the home minister's regret and claimed victory for its stand, its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) rejected Shinde's statement.
"The rejection is not warranted in the light of the statement made by the home minister... he had only said what was already in public domain," Chacko said.
Supporting Shinde, Chacko said he could not have made a factually incorrect statement in this regard, being the home minister.