India, Feb. 18 -- Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Tuesday apologised for his remarks referring to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Tipu Sultan, saying his statement was "deliberately taken out of context and distorted" by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and that he had no intention of hurting anyone's sentiments.

In a post on X, Sapkal said his remarks were intended to promote unity and that a portion of his speech had been taken out of context and circulated on social media to suggest that he had compared the 17th-century Maratha king with the 18th-century Mysore ruler.

"My 70-second remark was about the idea that displaying photographs of various great leaders together in government offices should not create ...