NEW DELHI: Reacting to the criticism received by Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti for making a derogatory comment on a reporter, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that it was extremely wrong on the part of Bharti to have said something like that to the media.

"It was extremely wrong on the part of Bharti to have said something like this to the media and he should not have said this," said Kejriwal.

"Although I would also like to request the media not to follow him everywhere. I am not justifying his statement, but the media people were not letting Bharti's car move," he added.

On being questioned by a reporter today, as to whether he was planning to resign from the post of the Delhi law minister on moral grounds, Bharti asked, "How much money were you paid by Modiji?"

He also slammed the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

Bharti, who had chosen to attend a kite flying festival instead of appearing before the Delhi Commission of Women on Friday after he was summoned for the midnight raid episode, charged that the Women's Commission is "political".

Attacking DCW chief Barkha Singh, he said, "Barkha Singh is a Congress member...She should have resigned herself after her government's term ended".

Terming all the reports against him as false, the law minister threatened, "They are trying to defame me, I am going to take them to the court."

However, it was not clear who he was referring to. As reporters continued to question him over the controversy surrounding him, he accused them of taking money from the Gujarat chief minister.

"How much money have you received from Modi?" he shot back.

The minister, however, retracted his statement later, saying: "I did not mean that. I apologize if the remarks have hurt anyone." "I did not want to say what is being misinterpreted by everyone although, if anyone has been hurt by my statement, I apologize for that," said Bharti.

"The media is our friend, but they should also report my good deeds and actions. I respect the media, and will always fight for its independence," he said.

DCW had on Friday summoned Bharti following allegations that the Delhi minister led a group of AAP workers who misbehaved with a number of African women on the pretext of a raid on an alleged drug and prostitution ring in South Delhi last week.

The law minister was asked to depose before the commission to explain the charges against him but he sent his lawyers, who said he was absent due to "some urgencies".

Bharti's lawyers and the commission chief Singh, a former Congress MLA, had a public confrontation at the DCW office after she refused to allow them to present the minister's response.

The Aam Aadmi Party had on Friday said in a statement that it "strongly disapproved of the politicisation of the office of Delhi Commission for Women by its chairperson".

(Inputs from ANI and PTI)