Rahul remains on thin ice: BJP on SC stay on conviction

The Lok Sabha Speaker can now revive Rahul's membership on his own or the Congress leader can seek restoration of his status as an MP.

After the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a defamation case, the BJP on Friday said Parliament "can do with some levity for now" but the Congress leader continues to be on thin ice as several other criminal defamation cases are pending against him.

In a big relief to Gandhi, the apex court stayed his conviction in the 2019 defamation case over his Modi surname remark, paving the way for restoring his Lok Sabha membership.

The Lok Sabha Speaker can now revive his membership on his own or Gandhi can seek restoration of his status as an MP.

Reacting to the development, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said in a tweet, "Rahul Gandhi may have survived this one but for how long?"

बकरे की अम्मा कब तक ख़ैर मनाएगी?

Rahul Gandhi may have survived this one but for how long? On an earlier occasion, no less than the Supreme Court had pulled him up for attributing, wrongly to them, an observation, they had not made. Besides, there are several other criminal…

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 4, 2023

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There are several other criminal defamation cases pending against Gandhi, including "the high profile case of mudslinging the venerable Veer Savarkar", filed by the freedom fighter's family, Malviya wrote on Twitter, recently rebranded as X.

"Rahul Gandhi is also an accused, along with his mother Sonia Gandhi, in the National Herald scam, and currently out on bail,” the BJP leader added.

Conviction in any of these cases can lead to Gandhi's disqualification again, he added.

"Rahul Gandhi is on thin ice here. But, for now the Parliament can do with some levity,” Malviya said.

“On an earlier occasion, no less than the Supreme Court had pulled Gandhi up for attributing wrongly to them an observation (that) they had not made,” he the BJP leader said.

The apex court had in 2019 closed a contempt proceedings against Gandhi for wrongly attributing to it his "chowkidar chor hai" remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Rafale case, with a warning to be more careful in future after the senior Congress leader tendered an unconditional apology.