The 52-year-old Congress leader reached Surat in the afternoon via a scheduled commercial flight along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and proceeded to the sessions court.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case over his Modi surname remark, restoring his status as an MP.
A court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for stay on conviction in a defamation case that saw him being disqualified as Lok Sabha MP by observing he should have been "more careful with his words" since he was a member of Parliament and the then president of the country's second largest political party.
Venugopal said not just the Congress but the entire nation has "condemned this erroneous conviction and disqualification, and resolved to stand by Rahul in this noble fight".
Chief ministers of 3 Congress-ruled states, other national and state party leaders are also likely to accompany Rahul to the court.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday appointed election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories in view of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
As the year 2023 comes to an end, a look at some newsy events that shaped the world in the first half of the year.
The Congress on Thursday said former party chief Rahul Gandhi will file an appeal against a Gujarat court verdict holding him guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case, and alleged that the government was after him for speaking the truth and bringing to light its 'misdeeds'.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Mishra agreed to hear the plea after senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, sought listing of the appeal on July 21 or July 24.
The court of Justice Hemant Prachchhak, however, said no interim protection can be granted at this stage.
'The judge could have given him a six-month, one-year, or one-and-half-year sentence also because the maximum punishment for defamation cases is two years.' 'Disqualification happens only if one is sentenced for two years; it does not happen if the disqualification is for one-and-half years.' 'But the period of sentence is the judge's discretion.'
'We are not here to hold brief for Adani. But Gandhi has sought to mislead the people to link his disqualification with Adani. He has been disqualified because of conviction in a case that relates to defamatory remarks he made in 2019'
After several senior Congress leaders accompanied Gandhi when he filed the appeal in the sessions court, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi asked if it was a display of his arrogance, an attempt to pressure the judiciary or the 'familiar tactic' of browbeating probe agencies.
Senior Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are accompanying Rahul Gandhi to the court.
The Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also "failing legally" after a Gujarat court verdict on Thursday held him guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
In winning a seventh term, the BJP also matched the Left Front's feat in West Bengal.
The plea said the grounds for disqualification ought to be specific with the nature of offences as specified under the CrPC and not in a "blanket form", as is currently in force according to section 8(3) of the 1951 Act.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.
Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.
'They also think that if all opposition parties rally behind him, then 2024 will be Rahul versus Modi and that will be advantage BJP'
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.
'Today, the State is permanently going after politicians, but also civil society, academics and all those it is threatened by or irritated with.'
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