NEW DELHI — Taking a swipe at the Centre, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said that the speed at which senior party leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as an MP, the Lower House should now immediately reinstate his membership after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the Modi surname remark defamation case.
Chowdhury also wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla requesting restoration of Rahul Gandhi’s membership at the earliest so that he can participate in the House proceedings.
Addressing a press conference at his residence here, Chowdhury said: “The Supreme Court is in its order stayed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi. It means that he should be allowed to participate in the proceedings of the House. And before this is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha secretariat to take note of the same.”
Taking a swipe at the government for disqualifying Rahul Gandhi within a day of the Gujarat court order on Arpil 24, Chowdhury said: “The speed at which they had disqualified him same should be seen in reinstating his membership.”
The Congress leader said that he called the Speaker on Friday night saying that he needed to submit the letter of stay on conviction of Rahul Gandhi by the Supreme Court.
“He suggested that I will talk tomorrow morning. Today (Saturday( morning I called up Lok Sabha speaker again over phone and he asked me to submit the documents in the Lok Sabha Secretariat office. I called the Lok Sabha Secretariat and he said that the office is closed. And thus I asked if I need to submit it today with him, he said submit it with the Lok Sabha Speaker. And today is holiday.
“When I asked what is the other way to submit the letter, he said it can be sent through post. I sent it through post and the letter was received and signed but they did not put the stamp,” he added.
Chowdhury also said that the House should function and Rahul Gandhi comes back there.
“When he has been granted relief by the Court, we are requesting the Speaker to see that he faces no issues in returning,” the Congress leader added.
In a big relief, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in Modi surname remarks defamation case, which cost him his membership, saying that no reasons were given by the trial judge for imposing the maximum punishment of two years in the case. — IANS
