Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was learnt to have been angry with Joshi for having made such a remark. In a meeting with Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh in New Delhi Thursday, Gandhi described the remark as 'completely unacceptable'.

Joshi Thursday clarified: 'I had simply sought to draw people's attention to the fact that Mayawati's dole of Rs.25,000 to every Dalit rape victim was quite ironical as the state police chief was spending lakhs on the helicopter ride that he undertakes to hand over that paltry amount.'

'My intention was to remind Mayawati that being a woman she should realise that a paltry monetary compensation cannot make up for what a woman loses on account of rape,' she told reporters.

'As soon as I found that my statement had been twisted, I promptly made it a point to offer my apologies,' Joshi said.

She termed the attack on her house as 'state-sponsored terrorism'.

Mayawati said Joshi's earlier remarks were 'objectionable, reprehensible and highly condemnable'.