Disqualified from Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi now asked to vacate govt-allotted bungalow

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on March 24 (PTI file image)

The Lok Sabha Secretariat on March 27 issued a notice to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking him to vacate the official bungalow in New Delhi that was allotted to him for being a Member of the Parliament, within a month's period.

The action comes three days after Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha, on grounds of him being convicted on March 23 by a magisterial court in Gujarat in a defamation case.

Gandhi, who has been living in the government bungalow at Tughlaq Road since 2004 when he was first elected as a lawmaker, has been asked to vacate the same by April 22. "The allotment of the aforesaid accommodation shall deemed to have been cancelled with effect from April 23, 2023," the notice stated.

Gandhi, a former Congress president, was sentenced to two-year prison term by the court in Gujarat, which heard the case in which he was accused of defaming an entire community through a remark made at an election rally in Karnataka in 2019. "Why do all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names?" Gandhi had said in his electoral speech.

Gandhi, in the Parliament, was representing Kerala's Wayanad constituency, from where he was elected with a record-margin in the 2019 general elections.

Following his disqualification, the Congress party launched a "satyagraha", with demonstrations in Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala.

In a press conference on March 25, Gandhi told reporters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "afraid" of him making another speech in the Parliament on the government's alleged nexus with the Adani group.

"I am not going to back down even if I am disqualified for life. I will keep raising questions and fight for the people," Gandhi said, as he accused the Centre of attempting to "suppress" his voice.