Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday said that he had mistakenly referred to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as Muhammad Ali Jinnah a day ago while talking about the Congress party’s contribution to India’s Independence.

Actor-politician and former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shatrughan Sinha officially joined the Congress earlier this month. He is the Congress candidate from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar against BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Addressing a rally in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh to campaign for state Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath, Sinha on Friday had invoked Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah along with Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.

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“The Congress family, from Mahatma Gandhi to Sardar Patel to Mohammad Ali Jinnah to Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,” Sinha said. “It is their party. They had the most important role in development and freedom of the country. This is the reason why I have come here [to Congress].”

On Saturday, clarifying his comments, Sinha said it was a slip of tongue and he meant to say Maulana Kalam Azad’s name. “Whatever I said yesterday was slip of tongue. I wanted to say Maulana Azad but uttered Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” he said.

He claimed some news channels were trying to play up his mistake.