New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will today vacate the official residence he has been occupying since 2005 in central Delhi.
The Lok Sabha Housing Committee headed by BJP lawmaker CR Patil earlier asked Gandhi to leave 12 Tughlaq Lane bungalow.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi already moved his belongings to his mother Sonia Gandhi’s residence at 10 Janpath Delhi, news agency PTI reported.
A court in Gujarat's Surat convicted Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case related to ‘Modi surname’.
The Surat Sessions Court on April 3 granted him bail in the case responding to the appeal he had filed following the conviction.
His conviction in the case disqualified him as an MP, prompting the Lok Sabha secretariat to serve Rahul a notice to vacate the official residence by April 22.
Following the notice, Congress leadership accused the Centre of political vendetta although the Congress leader is required to leave the residence as per protocol, according to NDTV.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi lost an appeal on Friday seeking to set aside the conviction in the case, frustrating his hope to reinstate him as MP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the Surat sessions court’s upholding of the lower court's conviction a ‘slap in the face of the Gandhi family’.
Rahul Gandhi is left with the option of appealing to either Gujarat High Court or the Supreme Court to reinstate him as the MP, according to NDTV.
Just as the Congress leader is leaving his residence, the Congress alleged that the ruling BJP is being ‘ vindictive’ in targeting Rahul Gandhi.
Referring to Gandhi’s disqualification, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri previously said there are ‘automatic procedures'.