Rahul Gandhi In UP: Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who was in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, met a cobbler during his visit to Sultanpur. This comes after he appeared in a defamation case earlier in the day.
The former Congress party president appeared before the MP-MLA court in Sultanpur for a hearing in a case pertaining to remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The next hearing in the case wll be held on August 12.
Following his intearction with Rahul Gandhi, cobbler Ram Chait said, "I told him I was financially weak and asked him for some help. I also showed him how I mend shoes."
The Congress leader appeared in connection with a defamation case filed against him for allegedly making objectionable remarks against Shah.
During the hearing, Rahul Gandhi told the judge that he was implicated in the case as a part of a political rivalry. The judge asked four questions to the Lok Sabha LoP. "I did not give any such statement in the press conference in Bengaluru," Gandhi said in the court. Witnesses in the case will appear on behalf of Chairman Vijay Mishra's advocate on August 12.
A defamation case was filed against the former Congress president by local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Mishra on August 4, 2018, for making alleged objectionable remarks against the then BJP president Shah. The defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi was filed in response to his remarks during a press conference in Bengaluru.
On several occasions in the past, Rahul Gandhi has been seen meeting and interacting with farmers and truck drivers to listen to their grievances.
On Wednesday, a delegation of twelve farm leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka met Gandhi in the Parliament complex. The leaders shared their concerns over the need for a Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee for crops.
Rahul Gandhi assured them that a legal guarantee for MSP was their right. Later, speaking to the press, the Congress leader said that the grand old party and the INDIA bloc allies will raise the issue of MSP in the Parliament and also put pressure on the government on the same.
“We have mentioned in our manifesto about a legal guarantee for MSP, which can be implemented without any hassles,” he told mediapersons. “During the meeting, we decided that we will discuss the matter with the INDIA bloc partners and then start putting pressure on the government to frame a law on MSP,” he said.