After being disqualified as an MP of the Lok Sabha, former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has now received an eviction notice from the House Committee to vacate the official bungalow he stays in. After being convicted in a criminal defamation case, Gandhi has to vacate the bungalow within 30 days. The notice was issued on Monday morning by the committee which was chaired by BJP MP CR Patil.
Rahul Gandhi’s official residence, 12, Tughlaq Lane, was allotted to him back in the year 2004, following his first victory in the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.
If Rahul Gandhi does not vacate the residence within 30 days, he can then request the House Committee to retain it for another month by paying the property’s market rate.
Convicted by a Surat court for his remark stating, “All people with the surname ‘Modi’ are thieves”, Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP; and while the opposition is talking about the BJP’s and PM Modi’s fascism, the ruling party has maintained its stance that the conviction has taken place in line with the decision of the Supreme Court made in 2013, which stated that a people’s representative convicted for 2 years will be disqualified from office with immediate effect.
Following this verdict by the apex court, the then Manmohan Singh regime had brought an ordinance against this decision, but it was this same Rahul Gandhi who had torn a copy of the ordinance in a press conference. So, while the opposition calls the disqualification of the ex-Lok Sabha MP a ‘new low’ for the BJP, the BJP has stated that Rahul Gandhi should not think that he is above the law of the land.
