New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi sounded defiant after being disqualified as a Member of Parliament.
In his first reaction post the Lok Sabha secretariat’s order, the Congress leader said he was ready to pay any price.
“I am fighting for the voice of India. I am ready to pay any price,” Rahul tweeted in Hindi.
A day after Rahul was sentenced to two years in jail in a 2019 defamation case for a remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Lok Sabha secretariat also declared his constituency in Kerala’s Wayanad vacant, where fresh election is likely to be announced by the Election Commission.
The Surat court granted Rahul bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal to a higher court. But as per law, any MP convicted of a crime and sentenced to at least two years in jail stands to be disqualified.
Rahul will have to vacate his government bungalow in Delhi within a month.
The Congress cried ‘conspiracy’, claiming Rahul was being silenced as he was posing tough questions to the Central government.
Rahul’s disqualification triggered a massive outcry. Leaders of several Opposition parties, including those which don’t share friendly relations with the Congress, calling it ‘murder of democracy’ and a ‘dictatorial move’.