Port Blair, Mar 26 (PTI) The Congress unit of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Sunday began a day-long ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ here with party leaders gathering in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue near here to protest against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a defamation case.
Senior party leaders like local MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranglal Halder and Campaign Committee chairman of Andaman and Nicobar Territorial Congress, TSG Bhasker assembled in front of the statue near Aberdeen Bazaar here since morning and raised their voices against the ruling party at the Centre for “conspiring against Rahul Gandhi”.
Addressing the gathering, Rai Sharma said “Whatever happened in the last few days with Rahul Gandhi ji is extremely painful”.
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after a court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case. The disqualification will bar Gandhi (52), a four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years unless a high court stays his conviction.
In Port Blair, party leaders were seen carrying placards criticising the NDA government Speaking to PTI, Campaign Committee chairman of Andaman and Nicobar Territorial Congress, TSG Bhasker, said, “In the coming months, Assembly elections are due in six states, and therefore out of fear the BJP is trying to corner Rahul Gandhi ji with such conspiracies. I am not a legal expert, but with due respect to the judiciary, the sentence awarded to him seems to be too much”.
Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranglal Halder said the movement to gather support in favour of Rahul Gandhi would be intensified in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“All I can say is that truth always wins in the end and we will certainly emerge victorious from this situation very soon,” he added. PTI SN MM MM
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