NEW DELHI, 5 Aug: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said he has sent all documents pertaining to revocation of Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha to the speaker and his membership should be restored immediately.
He said that Speaker Om Birla should restore his membership with the same pace as he was disqualified after a Gujarat court convicted him in a defamation case pertaining to Modi surname remarks.
Chowdhury said that he had called the speaker on Friday night as well as on Saturday morning and later sent the documents to the speaker’s office since the secretary general’s office was closed due to a holiday.
“Rahul Gandhi’s Parliament Lok Sabha membership should be reinstated with the same pace and swiftness as he was disqualified,” the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha said, adding that he hoped this would be done before the Lok Sabha sits on Monday.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that 26 hours
after Gandhi was “convicted” by the sessions court in Surat, the notification of his disqualification as MP was issued.
“26 hours have passed since the Supreme Court stayed his wholly unjustified conviction. Why hasn’t his position as MP been restored yet?” he questioned on Twitter.
“Is the prime minister afraid of his participation in the no confidence motion?” he said.
“The Supreme Court has stayed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi, which means he should be allowed to attend Parliament,” Ramesh said.
Chowdhury said that the speaker told him to meet the secretary-general and hand over the documents.
He lamented that the secretary-general told him that, since his office was closed due to a holiday, the documents should be sent by post.
“We have handed over the documents, which have been received by the Lok Sabha secretariat, but they have not issued any receipt,” he said.
Chowdhury said that, at 2:05 pm on Friday, he had told the House for revocation of Gandhi’s disqualification and then went to the speaker’s residence and apprised him of the relief granted by the court to Gandhi.
“I even spoke to the speaker at night,” he said.
Asked if he feared deliberate delay on the part of authorities, he said, “My intention is not to put anyone in the dock and the speaker is respected by all.”
“We are only seeking our rights, as it was taken away on the court’s orders and now he has received relief on court orders, we only want our right to be restored. They can take any legal advice and this should be done today or tomorrow,” he said.
“We have got impatient that Rahul Gandhi should get justice and the Supreme Court has granted relief. His rights should be restored and our demand is that his rights should be protected,” he said. (PTI)
