NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit his former constituency Wayanad in Kerala on Tuesday, for the first time after his disqualification as a Member of Parliament (MP).
During his visit, he will address a public rally and hold a roadshow in Wayanad.
Rahul Gandhi lost membership in the Lower House of Parliament after a Surat court convicted and sentenced him in a 2019 criminal defamation case. The case pertained to a remark he made using the surname ‘Modi’ while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
At a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”.
Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA stands to be disqualified automatically if convicted and sentenced to two years or more.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Congress leader landed himself into fresh controversy after he posted a stinging tweet sporting the names of former Congress leaders, who either joined the BJP or ended decades-old ties with the grand old party, along with that of businessman Gautam Adani.
The names shown in the picture included Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, former MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, leader Anil Antony and former CM Kiran Reddy.
Reacting to this, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he would be filing a defamation suit against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his tweet linking him to the Adani Group.
“Whatever Rahul Gandhi has tweeted, it is defamatory. So once Prime Minister returns from Assam we will respond to the tweet and definitely, there will be a defamation case in Guwahati,” he said. (ANI)