Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha has tendered an unconditional apology for alleging in a tweet in April that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was a ‘CIA agent’.

In a statement of apology received by Dr. Swamy’s lawyers, who had sent him a legal notice on May 12, Mr. Jha said he had no wilful intention to defame him. He explained that it was a spontaneous reaction to a WikiLeaks expose based on a U.S. diplomat’s despatch, in which a conversation with Dr. Swamy was mentioned. “It was nothing more than a spontaneous enquiry on the despatch…” Mr. Jha said.

He had given an opinion on a published WikiLeaks item “solely to invite discussions in the social media to seek perspectives.”

He said he was now aware that WikiLeaks itself had denied any such imputation saying in a tweet on April 25, “Swamy provided political intelligence about election issues, but there’s no evidence of being an agent.”

“I, therefore, regret any disrepute or pain caused to Dr. Swamy since that was never my intention ,” Mr. Jha.