Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will launch his election campaign for the Karnataka assembly polls on April 5 in Kolar, where he had made a comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname in 2019 that led to his conviction in a defamation case and his disqualification from parliament.
Rahul Gandhi had said at a rally in Kolar before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi” in an apparent jibe at the Prime Minister with a reference to fugitive businessmen Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi.
The BJP had seen this as an insult to Other Backward Classes and Purnesh Modi, a party leader from Gujarat, had filed a case against him.
Rahul Gandhi has refused to apologise for his comment. On Friday, he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha, leading to a huge opposition outcry.
Leaders from 18 opposition parties have slammed the government – a development the Congress sees as a “silver lining” and a catalyst to unify the opposition ahead of next year’s general election.
The Election Commission announced today the poll date for Karnataka where the ruling BJP is hoping for a second consecutive term in power.
The Congress, which formed government in Karnataka in 2018 with HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular, lost power a year later. The alliance government collapsed with the desertion of several MLAs.
The two parties had accused the BJP of bringing down the government.