Rahul Gandhi's disqualification: Congress to hold fast on Monday

Puducherry: The Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee will hold a dawn to dusk fast here on Monday to condemn the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as member of Parliament.

Former Puducherry Chief Minister and senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy told participants in a protest rally organised by the PPCC here Sunday that, "the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi is a clear case of political vendetta unleashed by the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) headed NDA government at the Centre." He said that the Central government was attempting to gag the voice of the opposition particularly when the Congress leader was exposing the Narendra Modi led government's nexus with the industrialist and billionaire Gautam Adani.

"The Prime Minister tried to silence the opposition but our protests would continue unabated," Narayanasamy said announcing that a day-long fast would be observed here on Monday to condemn the disqualification of Gandhi.

Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat Court on March 23 in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.

A day later, the Lok Sabha Secretariat in a notification said that his disqualification was effective from the day of his conviction.

Puducherry PCC leader A V Subramanian, party legislators M Vaithianathan and Ramesh Parambath and delegates from different wings of the party were among those who participated in the protest rally.