Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be in Surat on Monday to appeal his conviction in a criminal defamation case. According to party sources, RaGA will be accompanied by his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. The duo is expected to leave for Surat in a chartered plane and reach at 12.30 pm. Extending their support to the convicted leader, chief ministers of Congress-ruled states – Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan – will also be present in Surat today.
Gandhi will be present in court when the plea will be filed against the lower court’s order sentencing him to two years in jail in the “Modi surname” case, according to Kirit C Panwala, the Congress leader’s counsel. Earlier on Sunday, RaGa is reported to have met his mother and former party president Sonia Gandhi ahead of the court appearance. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law Robert Vadra.
Gandhi also faces another defamation case filed by former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the same remark. A Patna court has reportedly directed the Congress leader to appear on April 12 in connection with the case.
After RaGa’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha, the Congress has been vocal in protests all over the country. The grand old party has been trying to gather like-minded Opposition members to protest the alleged “vindictiveness of the Centre.”
Rahul’s disqualification is the latest in a series of flashpoints between the Congress and the ruling BJP, with a united Opposition calling it a ploy to divert public attention from the Adani issue.
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