Rahul Gandhi News Updates: Cong Plans 'Jan Andolan' as Leader Loses MP Status, BJP Supports Disqualification

The Congress on Friday accused the government of acting with “lightning speed” in disqualifying Rahul Gandhi, saying it amounts to “strangulation of democracy” and alleging that the ruling dispensation is coming out with new techniques to “gag” him. The party leadership got into a huddle soon after the disqualification was announced by the Lok Sabha Secretariat and decided to fight it legally and politically and launch a countrywide “Jan Andolan” starting Monday.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress here on Friday held a silent protest against the BJP’s “vendetta politics” and decried Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha earlier in the day. J&K Congress President Vikar Rasool Wani and scores of Congress workers staged their protest at Shaheedi Chowk in Jammu outside party headquarters wearing black badges and masks to condemn its leader’s disqualification.

The past 48 hours have showed how the Congress botched up what could have been its moment. They allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to get a headstart, making the entire issue of a casteist remark by the Congress. READ MORE

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha and stripped of his MP title on Friday, following his conviction by the Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case. Reacting to the developments following his 2-year jail sentence, Rahul took to Twitter and wrote, “I am fighting for the voice of India. I am ready to pay any cost.” READ MORE

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Friday claimed Rahul Gandhi would not have been disqualified from Lok Sabha had he apologised for his alleged critical remarks about the Indian democracy. Gandhi is a senior leader and was the president of the Congress, he should have known he should not speak “against the country” during a visit abroad, Athawale told reporters here.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders say that the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as an MP is an “automatic” event given the 2013 Supreme Court judgment in the Lily Thomas case and pointed out that the Congress has still not shown the urgency to go to a sessions court to secure a stay on the conviction. READ MORE

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi left his residence on Friday evening following his disqualification from the Lok Sabha. His mother Sonia reached his residence earlier. The move came a day after he was convicted by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case.

In a blistering attack on the BJP, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said Rahul Gandhi, the son of a martyred prime minister, was called ‘Mir Jafar’ and insults were hurled at his family but he would not bow down as he belongs to a family whose members have nurtured democracy by its blood.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha is BJP’s tactic to divert people’s attention from issues like inflation, unemployment and an “industrialist friend” sinking India’s money. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also alleged that since the BJP came to power in UP in 2017, it took help of the government and the administration to get false cases lodged against Samajwadi Party MLAs like Azam Khan and got them disqualified from the state assembly.

Following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi getting stripped off his Lok Sabha membership, Yashwant Sinha said, “We have entered the era of unabashed dictatorship in India. Nobody is safe now. If we don’t rise now we shall all be crushed by a power-hungry clique. Long live democracy.”

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha a dictatorial move and asserted that the BJP will not be able to suppress the voice of the opposition. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Just because you come from a family, you can’t consider yourself above all. The rules are same for everyone, but Congress wants a seperate IPC for their family.” His comments came following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha on Friday.

BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday addressed the media after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha, following his conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case. Pradhan said, “Those crying foul in Congress should remember when Manmohan Singh brought an ordinance in 2013 and Rahul declared and tore it back then saying it is nonsense.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi reacted to her brother Rahul’s Lok Sabha disqualification on Friday. Launching an attack on PM Modi, she said, “You call my family parivarvadi, but, this family watered India’s democracy with their blood,” she said.

“The blood that runs in our veins has one specialty… Never bowed down in front of a coward, power-hungry dictator like you and will never bow down. Do whatever you want,” she added.