'Rahul Gandhi Is On Thin Ice': BJP Cites Other Cases That Can Disqualify Congress Leader Again

Stating that "Rahul Gandhi is on thin ice here", BJP leader Amit Malviya mentioned the criminal defamation cases that are filed against the Congress leader who was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP.

BJP leader and party's IT cell chief Amit Malviya on Friday taunted Congress party and its former president Rahul Gandhi following the Supreme Court's reprieve to him as it stayed his conviction in a 2019 defamation case related to his Modi surname remark. Stating that "Rahul Gandhi is on thin ice here", Malviya mentioned the criminal defamation cases that are filed against the Congress leader who was disqualified in March as Lok Sabha MP representing Kerala's Wayanad. 

"Rahul Gandhi may have survived this one but for how long? On an earlier occasion, no less than the Supreme Court had pulled him up for attributing, wrongly to them, an observation, they had not made. Besides, there are several other criminal defamation cases pending against Rahul Gandhi, including the high profile case of mudslinging the venerable Veer Savarkar, filed by the freedom fighter’s family," the BJP IT cell chief wrote.

He further mentioned, "Rahul Gandhi is also an accused, along with his mother Sonia Gandhi, in the National Herald scam, and currently out on bail. Conviction in any of these can lead to his disqualification, again. Let’s not forget that veteran leaders like Lalu Prasad, J Jayalalitha among others have faced disqualification, following convictions. Rahul Gandhi is on thin ice here. But for now the Parliament can do with some levity."

The statement comes after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in a presser highlighted how the Lok Sabha was quick to disqualify Rahul Gandhi as a Member of Parliament.

"It remains to be seen how long does the SC order take to reach the Lok Sabha. We have waited so long. We can wait a little more. But we are now closely watching the situation and want to see how long does it take for Lok Sabha to reinstate him," Kharge said. 

Following the apex court's ruling, Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury promptly met with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to request the restoration of Rahul Gandhi's status as a Member of Parliament.

During the hearing, a three-judge bench consisting of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha, and Sanjay Kumar underscored that the provisions of the Representation of People Act came into play solely due to the maximum sentence of two years awarded. The bench highlighted that if the sentence had been one day shorter, the Act's provisions would not have been applicable, particularly in cases of non-cognisable, bailable, and compoundable offences, as reported by news agency PTI.

The bench noted, "The trial court judge was expected, at the very least, to provide reasons for imposing the maximum sentence. Although the appellate court and high court have dedicated extensive pages to rejecting the stay on conviction, these considerations were not addressed in their orders," according to PTI.