KC Venugopal. file | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal said on Friday that the Congress would approach the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court’s decision. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s petition rejected to stay his conviction in the defamation case over the Modi surname remark.
Speaking to reporters in Kozhikode, Mr. Venugopal said that there is no point in expecting justice from Gujarat in the present circumstances. He expressed full faith in the judicial system of the country.
“This decision cannot affect our decision to do our best to keep the people of this country together. This is not a political reaction but an opportunity for the Congress. The people of this country are not fools,” Mr Venugopal said.
He said Mr Gandhi is not the kind of leader who can be swayed by court verdicts or verdicts disqualification as an MP, “It has been five or six months since the initial verdict and sentencing. He was neither scared then nor now,” Mr Venugopal said.
The Gujarat High Court on Friday dismissed Mr Gandhi’s plea for injunction and upheld the trial court’s order on the ‘Modi surname’ matter, saying it was “proper, just and legal”. The prohibitory order could pave the way for Mr. Gandhi’s return to Parliament.
On March 23, a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat sentenced Mr Gandhi to two years’ imprisonment, pleading guilty to criminal defamation on a suit filed by Gujarat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.
Mr. Modi filed a case against Mr. Gandhi for his remarks during an election rally in Karnataka in 2019, where he had asked, “How come Modi is the common surname of all thieves?”