BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, who has also filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, has said the Congress leader should not have attended Lok Sabha on Friday as he stood "disqualified" as an MP as soon as the Surat court convicted him.
Gandhi was convicted on Thursday in a criminal defamation case for his "Modi surname" remarks and sentenced to two years of imprisonment. The court granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.
The Wayanad MP attended Lok Sabha on Friday briefly as the House was adjourned for an hour soon after it convened for the day. He was disqualified hours later by the Lok Sabha Secretariat from the day of his conviction. Modi made his remarks before the disqualification was announced.
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Speaking to reporters in Parliament complex, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said, "I personally feel he should not have attended Parliament today. Already, he is disqualified." He said he is going by the opinions of legal experts on the matter and added that Gandhi's disqualification can be averted only if a higher court suspends his conviction. The suspension of conviction occurs only in the rarest of rare cases, he noted.
Modi has also filed a defamation case in a Patna court against the former Congress president in a similar matter. He said Gandhi with his remarks "abused" the backward classes, and they will take "revenge" on the Congress for the statement in the upcoming polls. The 'Modi' surname is used most by people hailing from the Other Backward Classes.
