New Delhi: A special court in Bengaluru on Friday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by the Karnataka BJP.
The Karnataka unit of the BJP had filed the defamation case against several Congress leaders including Gandhi, incumbent Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar, reported The Indian Express.
The defamation case was filed over advertisements published in local newspapers labelling the BJP as corrupt ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
It was alleged in the complaint that Congress had defamed the BJP by suggesting in the advertisement that the saffron party’s leadership was indulging in corruption by fixing prices for various posts, including Rs. 2,500 crore for the Chief Minister’s post and Rs. 500 crore for a minister’s post.
Earlier, the special court had granted bail to CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM Shivakumar in the same case on June 1. Gandhi also appeared before the concerned magistrate ass directed by the court in its order on June 1, reported LiveLaw.
In the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly elections last year, which the Congress later won with a thumping majority, corruption was one of the most important poll issues. The Congress had repeatedly highlighted that commissions were fixed for getting various work done in the erstwhile BJP government in the state.
In advertisements published in newspapers back in May last year, it was alleged that 75 per cent commissions in Covid-kit tender deals, 40 per cent on PWD tenders and 30 per cent for grants to religious organisations were fixed by the then government, The Indian Express reported.
