The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was disqualified as MP after having been convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 defamation case, is likely to hand over the MPs’ bungalow that had been allotted to him today, April 22, the news agency PTI has reported.
Gandhi is learned to have already vacated the 12, Tughlaq Lane address – his official residence until now. He first moved his office and personal belongings on April 14 and more personal belongings a day ago, on April 21. Today, he is likely to formally hand it over to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
PTI reports he will start living with his mother, MP Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence.
A Surat sessions court on April 20 turned down Gandhi’s plea for a stay on his conviction and two-year sentence in the defamation case. If the court had allowed his petition today, the Lok Sabha Secretariat would likely have had to restore his membership of the House and he would also have likely been able to retain his residence.
Gandhi’s appeal was judged by Judge Robin Mogera who has earlier served as BJP leader and now Union home minister Amit Shah’s lawyer.
Gandhi is convicted in a case is based on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Purnesh Modi, based on a speech he had given in Kolar in 2019 in which he said, “I have a question. Why do all these thieves have Modi in their names whether it is Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi? We don’t know how many more such Modis will come out.”
The complainant claimed that Gandhi had defamed all people whose surname is Modi. Bihar’s former deputy CM Sushil Modi has also filed a similar defamation case being heard separately in Patna.
Opposition leaders have unitedly criticised the Union government’s alacrity in disqualifying Gandhi immediately after his conviction.