After being disqualified as a Member of Parliament following a Surat court order convicting him in a criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi updated his Twitter account bio to ‘Dis’Qualified MP’ on Sunday.
According to sources, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi will hold a day-long ‘Sankalp Padyatra’ near Raj Ghat on Sunday to protest Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP. Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member on Friday, a day after a Surat court sentenced him to two years in prison in a defamation case filed against him over his remark about the “Modi surname.”
The former MP claimed that the BJP-led central government is shielding businessman Gautam Adani from prosecution for stock manipulation.
“Why is the BJP-led centre is allegedly protecting the businessman Gautam Adani? Kyuki aap hi Adani ho,” he alleged. Attacking PM Modi, he said, “Prime Minister was scared of the next speech that was going to come on Adani. I have seen it in his eyes. That is why, first the distraction and then the disqualification”.
The BJP retaliated, with Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur declaring that the central government and Lok Sabha had no role in his disqualification and that Rahul Gandhi was “a case of political immaturity.”
Ravi Shankar Prasad, a BJP leader, also slammed Rahul Gandhi, saying his remarks about Modi’s surname “were abusive, not critical and that the BJP is going launch a stir against his insult to OBCs.”