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Rahul Gandhi sent notice to vacate Tughlaq Lane bungalow in 30 days
Rahul Gandhi, who had been a lawmaker for 19 years, was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after a Surat court convicted him in a criminal defamation case for a remark he made ahead of the 2019 general elections
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been asked by the Lok Sabha House Committee to vacate his Tughlaq Lane bungalow provided to him in his capacity as a member of Parliament, people familiar with the matter said.
Gandhi will be given a month to shift out of 12 Tughlaq Lane, which he has occupied since 2005. HT on Friday reported that the decision to oust Gandhi was expected in wake of his disqualification as an MP. The former Congress party chief also runs his office from the residence.
HT reached out to Gandhi’s office but did not receive a response immediately.
The Wayanad MP was disqualified on Friday, a day after a Surat court convicted him in a criminal defamation case for a remark he made ahead of the 2019 general elections about the Modi surname. If the conviction holds, Rahul Gandhi will not be allowed to contest an election for the next six years.
Any elected representative who is sentenced for any offence for a period of two years or more faces disqualification under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951. One provision of the Act that granted three months’ protection from disqualification was struck down in 2013 as “ultra vires” by the Supreme Court in the Lily Thomas case.
On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the demand for his apology for his remarks abroad and other attacks was aimed to distract from the real issue involving the Adani Group. In a press conference on Saturday, the former Congress president said Modi “was scared of my next speech in Parliament on Adani”.
Gandhi also said his disqualification would help the party as it has given the Congress a new weapon. “Please understand why I have been disqualified. I have been disqualified because the Prime Minister is scared of my next speech. He is scared of the next speech that is going to come on Adani. I have seen it in his eyes. So, he is terrified of the next speech that is going to come and they don’t want that speech to be in Parliament. That is the issue, that is why first the distraction, now the disqualification,” he said.
