Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been granted bail by Patna Court on Saturday, July 6, in connection with a defamation suit filed against him by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi over "Modi" surname jibe made during the Lok Sabha election campaign.
After coming out of the Patna Court, Gandhi was speaking to reporters where he stated, "Whoever stands against RSS' and Narendra Modi ji's ideology is attacked, court cases are slapped. My fight is to save the Constitution, to stand for the poor & the farmers."
Taking to Twitter today morning, the Congress leader said, "I will appear in person at the Civil Court in Patna today at 2 PM, in yet another case filed against me by my political opponents in the RSS/ BJP to harass & intimidate me."
Addressing an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar district on April 13, Gandhi had said, "I have a question. Why do all thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modis will come out." The Congress leader was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bank-fraud accused Nirav Modi and former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi.
Sushil Modi had filed a defamation case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) court in April, taking exception to a snide remark made by Gandhi. The case was referred by CJM Shashikant Roy to ACJM Kumar Gunjan.
Rahul Gandhi resignation earlier this week brought an end to days of speculation as members of the Congress Working Committee had been urging him not to step down. Gandhi had offered to step down taking moral responsibility for his party's Lok Sabha election debacle.
A day after he resigned, his sister and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to Twitter to laud his "courageous" decision.
The Congress party managed to win just 52 seats out of a total of 542 in the lower House of the parliament. Gandhi's decision came after he lost the Congress family bastion of Amethi to Union minister Smriti Irani by nearly 55,000 votes.
