Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Monday soon after Parliament resumed its last leg of the ongoing Budget Session after a four-day long break.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned to meet again at 2 pm. The last leg of the Budget session had begun on March 13 and has witnessed repeated adjournments. Before the adjournment, Lok Sabha paid tributes to MP from Pune Girish Bhalchandra Bapat and Popular Malayalam film actor and former MP, Innocent who passed away recently in Kerala.
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Some opposition MPs were seen wearing black clothes in the House.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned amid sloganeering by the opposition. The opposition MPs raised slogans on the Adani issue. the opposition has been demanding a joint parliamentary committee on the Adani-Hindenburg issue.
Ahead of the Parliament session today, Congress MPs met to chalk out their strategy ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against his conviction and jail term.
“We can’t argue over the court’s verdict but we can fight against the Central government. They (Centre) don’t want to form a JPC in Adani row. They plan that House does not function…”Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Meanwhile, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was seen at Rahul Gandhi’s residence in the national capital before he embarked for Surat to appeal against his conviction.
The former Wayanad MP will today file an appeal in the Sessions court in Surat and the party expects that court will take up the matter today itself. According to sources, Rahul Gandhi is expected to reach the Surat court at around 3 pm.
The former Lok Sabha MP was convicted and sentenced to two years in hail by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma on March 23 in a defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark in 2019 in Karnataka.
According to sources, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi will accompany the former MP to court.
Besides Priyanka, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel along with Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi are likely to accompany Rahul Gandhi. Also, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat are expected to join the group.
The defamation case was filed against Gandhi by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”
After the Surat court’s verdict, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as MP from Lok Sabha following his conviction in the case.