Team News Riveting
New Delhi, April 22
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday vacated his official bungalow at 12 Tughlak Lane where he stayed for almost two decades.
“I am ready to pay any price for speaking the truth…,” the Congress leader said as he walked out of his official residence. In a tweet, Congresss spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “Rahul ji has vacated his official residence today. His aim and destination is much beyond a house…”
The move was necessitated following a Gujarat court sentencing Rahul Gandhi to two years imprisonment in a defamation case. The court had granted 30 days to file an appeal, which was rejected on Thursday. Gandhi, who was disqualified from the Parliament in view of his conviction by the Gujarat Court, cannot be reinstated as MP for now.
The former Wayanad MP will now have to appeal in the Gujarat High Court for a stay of his conviction. If stay is granted, then the disqualification may be revoked.
The Lok Sabha Housing Committee, headed by BJP MP C R Patil, had sent Gandhi a letter as per the established procedure asking him to vacate his official bungalow by April 22. The action was according to the rules but the Congress leaders accused the Centre of political vendetta.
The rules underlined that a disqualified MP is not entitled to a government accommodation and gets a one-month period to vacate his official residence. Rahul has moved in with his mother Sonia Gandhi to her 10 Janpath residence.
“Today @RahulGandhi vacates his home at Tughlaq Lane in response to the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s order. The Court gave him 30 days to appeal &the HC or SC could still reinstate him, but his exemplary gesture to move out shows his respect for the rules,” Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said in a tweet.
