Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that after four phases of Lok Sabha elections, it is clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is losing and the grand old party will form the next government at the Centre. Addressing the media at party office in Delhi, Rahul also sought to clarify that he apologised to the Supreme Court in the Rafale case because he committed a mistake by passing comment on the matter which is still pending in the court.

“More than half of the elections are over and there is a clear-cut feeling that the Modiji is losing. Main issues in this elections are unemployment, corruption of Prime Minister. Our general assessment is clearly saying that BJP is losing the elections,” he said.

“I have apologised to Supreme Court for my remarks. I apologised because the matter (Rafale) is in the Supreme Court.

“There is a theft in Rafale. The matter is still in the Supreme Court. I made a comment on that and therefore I apologised. Neither I have apologised to BJP, nor to Modi. I apologised because the matter is ongoing in the Supreme Court and I commented on that. I committed a mistake and apologised,” he told reporters.

The clarification comes a few days after the Supreme Court pulled Rahul for wrongly attributing his “chowkidar chor hai” remark to the Supreme Court with regard to the Rafale verdict and as well as his response to the court. The court had scolded Rahul even after he verbally apologised and gave him a third chance to mend his action.

Rahul also accused PM Modi of disrespecting the country’s armed forces by comparing surgical strikes to video games. The Congress president said that Modi thinks the Army, Indian Air Force and Navy are his personal properties. He said that the surgical strikes in Pakistan were not carried out by Modi but it was carried out by forces.

“If Modiji says that the earlier surgical strikes were not real surgical strikes and a video game, then he is not demeaning the Congress but he is disrespecting the armed forces,” Rahul said. The Congress president also counted dates of six surgical strikes carried out during UPA’s regime.

“If the the media needs record then its written here. General Vikram Singh has said the UPA government had carried out six surgical strikes between 2008 and 2014 and given out the dates of the surgical strikes. “This has been done by the Army and we don’t want to politicise it. And the Prime Minister must have respect for the armed forces,” he said.

Rahul also attacked PM Modi over unemployment. He said that Modi had promised to give employment to over two crore youths every year but he has failed. He said that the biggest issue in front of the people is unemployment and the economy ruined by Modi government is the biggest issue.

“The country and Rahul Gandhi wants to understand it. Rahul Gandhi is nothing. Country is the biggest thing,” he said. He also asked why PM Modi is silent on jobs and farmers’ problems.

Hitting out at Modi, Rahul further said, “We have fought four to five elections with him. We have fought against him in Gujarat, Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh. Soon he realises that he is not going to win then he shall bring something new like he brought sea plane in Gujarat. Reality is Modiji is losing the elections and its visible on his face.”

On Masood Azhar issue, Rahul accused the BJP-led government of compromising in dealing with terrorism. He said that if Congress returns to power, the new government will adopt a more stern approach in combating terrorism than what the Modi government’s approach has been.

“Masood Azhar is a terrorist, he must be punished. But who sent him to Pakistan?” the Congress chief asked as said that his party had never sent a terrorist back to Pakistan and it was the NDA government which released Jaish-e-Mohammed chief terrorist Masood Azhar.