Congress leader and former Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi will be seen in Surat, Gujarat in order to file an appeal in sessions court against a lower court order that found him guilty of criminal defamation for his notoriously unpopular remark- “all thieves have Modi surnames.” March 24th was the day Gandhi was found guilty of misusing the surname and namecalling the PM, the leader was charged with defamation by the entire Modi community, which was initially filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi (the ex-Congress president who was disqualified from Lok Sabha). 

After a few days, Gandhi was asked to vacate his official residence on April 22 in New Delhi which was given to him as an entitled MP.  While campaigning for Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi made remarks in April 2019 in Karnataka’s Kolar saying PM Modi was equal to law offenders like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi. 

The Congress has accused PM Modi of targeting Rahul Gandhi because he has been raising questions about the link between Modi and Gautam Adani, after which BJP has said that the court is doing its job on the matter. 

Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to 2-year in jail for his transgression but was suspended for a month for him to appeal against the order. Meanwhile, if the conviction is not toppled, the political leader will be disqualified from participating or running for elections for the upcoming 8 years. On the other hand, congress supporters are seen protesting in front of the Surat court where Gandhi will file his appeal today. 

CMs who are accompanying Gandhi to the court are Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chattisgarh) and Sukhvinder Sukhi (Himachal Pradesh) and some other leaders.