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On Congress's legal strategy, Khurshid says ‘we will not let Rahul Gandhi…’
The Congress has alleged that under the Narendra Modi government the laws were different for the ruling party and the opposition.
Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said that the party will appeal against Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the sessions court and if not satisfied, they'll go to the High Court and to the Supreme Court as well. Rahul Gandhi was convicted in a 2019 defamation case and was sentenced to two years in jail. While the court granted bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him appeal against the verdict, Gandhi lost his Lok Sabha seat and was asked vacate his official bungalow – 12, Tughlaq Lane – in New Delhi. (Also Read | On video of Rahul Gandhi 'ignoring' Karti Chidambaram, Congress says, ‘How jobless’)
Reacting to the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha member and the eviction notice of the Housing Committee of the lower house, Khurshid said, "We will appeal in sessions court and if we are not satisfied we will go to the High Court and to the Supreme court as well. We are sure that we will get relief."
“We will not let Rahul Gandhi leave his official residence. He has been asked to vacate the home because he is not willing to succumb and wants a discussion on Adani's issue.”
Congress has been demanding the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee to probe the embattled Adani Group after US short seller Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. While Congress has claimed that Gandhi's disqualification was directly linked to his speech in Lok Sabha targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Adani issue, the BJP said the former Congress chief was "a habitual loose cannon". (Also Read | 'If tomorrow I am convicted, will BJP...': Himanta Biswa Sarma on Rahul Gandhi)
The BJP has also been trying to coroner Rahul Gandhi over his recent remarks in London where he raised concerns over the state of democracy in India.
While delivering a lecture at Cambridge University in London, Rahul Gandhi said, “Everybody knows and it's been in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. I am an Opposition leader in India, we are navigating that (Opposition) space. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy; Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, moving around all are getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy.”
Talking about Gandhi's remark regarding the country's democracy, Khurshid said, “Nobody can complain about what Rahul Gandhi said in a University in England. Even then he was ready to explain himself in parliament but isn't allowed to and then he was expelled from the parliament.”
