Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would address an election rally in poll-bound Karnataka on April 10 and also visit his former Parliamentary constituency Wayanad a day later.
“Rahul Gandhi will address the election meeting in Karnataka on April 10. I have also been told to be present there. Rahulji will also go to Wayanad on April 11,” stated Baghel.
Karnataka is scheduled to go to Assembly polls on May 10. The results will be announced on May 13. Earlier on Monday Congress leader Rahul, along with several senior party leaders, was present in the Surat Sessions Court to file an appeal against his March 23 conviction in a criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.
He was accompanied by his sister and party leader Priyanka Gandhi. Other senior party leaders who arrived in Surat to show solidarity included Ashok Gehlot, Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, among others.
The court granted bail till disposal of the appeal in the defamation case.
The former MP from Wayanad was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H.H. Varma on March 23 in a defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark in 2019 in Karnataka.
The matter pertains to Rahul’s remarks at a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in April 2019. RaGa, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi in context of the recent swindling cases involving Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, had said: “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
Following his conviction, RaGa 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.
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