Rahul Gandhi, a former member of the Gujarati parliament, will appear in court today to contest his 2019 defamation case conviction and a two-year prison term.
According to report, Rahul Gandhi would likely ask the Surat Sessions Court to overturn the Magistrate’s decision to convict him in the defamation case in his petition. The report quotes Gandhi as saying that he will also ask the court for a temporary stay of his conviction for Lok Sabha membership.
Rahul will be joined by his sister, politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, three Congress Chief Ministers—Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu—and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was recently stripped of her status as a parliamentarian by a Gujarati court.
Gandhi recently met his mother Sonia Gandhi before appearing in court.
Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and former minister from Gujarat, filed the lawsuit in response to remarks made by Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Karnataka in 2019 that were made in advance of the Lok Sabha elections. “How come all thieves have the same last name,” Gandhi had remarked. His jab at PM Modi was interpreted as an insult because it implied that he has a last name in common with the two fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
The former Wayanad MP, 52, was granted bail with a 30-day sentence suspension to enable him time to file an appeal. His resignation from office has left his Wayanad seat in Kerala empty. A special election for the position may also be announced by the Election Commission.
Following a court ruling in Gujarat, Gandhi was declared ineligible to serve as a member of parliament. This prompted the divided opposition to band together and accuse the BJP of abusing its investigative powers against rival party members.
The Other Backward Class (OBC) population is a significant source of support for the BJP, and party president JP Nadda charged Gandhi with disrespecting them in the conviction order.