Congress MPs are set to meet ahead and chalk out their strategy on Monday ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against his conviction and jail term by a Surat court for his ‘Modi surname’ defamation case.
Parliament is set to resume today after a four-day break and Congress MPs will hold a meeting at 10.30 am in the Congress Parliamentary Party office to chalk out the strategy for the day. The party MPs have been asked to wear black clothes during the meeting. Meanwhile, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was seen arriving at Rahul Gandhi’s residence in the national capital before he embarked for Gujarat city to appeal against the order of a magistrate court in Surat.
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.
Congress has protested aggressively against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification inside the Parliament as well as outside it. Congress along with other opposition parties had held a ‘black dress’ protest against the government over Rahul Gandhi and Adani issue. They had marched from the Parliament complex towards Vijay Chowk together in an attempt to show unity.
Rahul Gandhi also received an eviction notice from the Lok Sabha secretariat, to which he said that he would abide by the notice.
After the disqualification of Rahul’s membership from the Lok Sabha, the Congress has been vocal in protests across the country. The grand old party has been making an effort to rally like-minded Opposition players around it in the wake of Rahul’s loss of membership from the Lower House.