Yet another attempt by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to be disarmingly honest, it seems.  

Speaking about the convicted MPs ordinance, Rahul, who is in Ahmedabad said, "My mother told me the words I used was perhanps too strong. In hindsight, the language was strong, but the sentiment was honest. I was flabbergasted by the ordinance and had to express my opinion.

"If Rajiv Gandhi were alive today, the Congress would have been a wholly different party.

"The problem with the Congress is too much centralisation, too few people run this company," he says.

Rahul faced a huge amount of criticism and the normally reticent PM said he was surprised at the manner in which Rahul had trashed the ordinance.

The National Conference and the NCP had both criticised the manner in which Rahul had hijacked Ajay Maken's press conference and said the ordinance was nonsense and should be torn up and thrown away.

Rahul today said his comments have hurt allies. "My comments and sentiment are detrimental and have hurt the alliance with allies," he said.