Congress MP Shashi Tharoor right now slammed Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha after his conviction in a prison defamation case filed by a BJP chief in Gujarat.

The previous Wayanad MP was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP after a courtroom in Surat sentenced Gandhi to 2 years in jail in a defamation case on Thursday. The defamation case was filed on a criticism by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi for Rahul Gandhi’s alleged comment, “How come all thieves have Modi because the widespread surname?”

Following his disqualification, Rahul Gandhi wouldn’t be capable of contest elections for eight years until the next courtroom upholds his conviction and sentence.

Tharoor informed NDTV that Gandhi by no means deliberately disrespected PM Modi as he by no means prompt that “everybody with the Modi surname are thieves.”

“Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi aren’t Different Backward Courses (OBCs). The conviction (of Gandhi) has little or no backing. Take a look at the marketing campaign speeches of very senior ministers, even the Prime Minister,” Tharoor informed the information channel.

“We have now seen Kejriwal in Delhi, Mamata Banerjee in Bengal, Okay Chandrasekhar Rao in Hyderabad. These aren’t figures that previously had related in any approach with the Congress,” he informed NDTV in an unique interview.

Apart from Tharoor, a number of different politicians have criticised the disqualification of Gandhi. Telangana Chief Minister Okay Chandrasekhar Rao and Mamata Banerjee had slammed the BJP-led authorities for such motion, calling it a darkish day for democracy. “We have now variations with the Congress, however it isn’t proper to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this,” tweeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Tharoor additionally objected to the punishment, which was the utmost allowed underneath the indictment. He mentioned that the case in opposition to Gandhi was weak. “We have now good attorneys and the complainant has a really weak case,” he added. “The precise assertion lends itself to a extra harmless interpretation… and a fourth Modi, Purnesh Modi, can not show that he was focused in any form or kind,” Tharoor mentioned.

In the meantime, the Congress started a day-long “Sankalp Satyagraha” at Delhi’s Rajghat in assist of Rahul Gandhi following his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, basic secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid had been among the many get together’s high brass participating within the satyagraha at Rajghat. Jairam Ramesh, Mukul Wasnik, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Saktisinh Gohil, Jothimani, Pratibha Singh and Manish Chatrath had been additionally current on the protest website.

Additionally Learn: ‘Dis’Qualified MP’: Rahul Gandhi updates Twitter bio after conviction in ‘Modi surname’ case