NEW DELHI: India’s Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday alleged that the defamation case against her brother and party leader Rahul Gandhi was reopened after his speech on Adani Group in Parliament during the ongoing budget session, reports PTI.

The person, who filed complaint against Rahul Gandhi in Surat, had earlier asked the local court to put a stay on his case for a year but after his speech in Parliament on Adani, he reopened the case. Within a month, the hearing was done and Rahul was convicted, alleged Priyanka while addressing the Congress's 'Sankalp Satyagraha' in Delhi.

Priyanka said her brother is honest and understands the issues of common people. “My brother had gone to PM Modi and hugged him in the Parliament and said he had no hatred. We might have different ideologies but we do not have the ideology of hatred. Rahul Gandhi completed his education in two of world's most prestigious institutions, Harvard and Cambridge University and they (BJP) started calling him 'Pappu', but later got to know that he is not a 'Pappu'”, she said.

Taking turns to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP of running “scared” of Rahul’s persistent questioning of Modi’s “relationship” with Adani and using the OBC card to deflect attention from the main issue, Priyanka Gandhi called the PM a “coward”,            while party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot asked which of the fugitives -- Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Mehul Choksi -- are OBCs.

“File a case against me and put me in jail too if you want, but the truth is that the prime minister of this country is a coward. He is an arrogant coward. He hides behind his power. But remember that there is a long tradition in our country that its people teach the arrogant king a lesson,” Priyanka said, accusing BJP of being afraid of being “exposed”.

Earlier in the morning, the Delhi Police had denied the Congress the permission to hold 'Satyagraha' at Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi Rajghat. In a letter, the Delhi Police said the request to hold 'Satyagraha' was rejected to maintain law and order and traffic. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC have been imposed in and around Rajghat. Adequate security arrangements have been put in place, a senior police officer said.

But Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka, Mukul Wasnik and KC Venugopal arrived at Rajghat, indicating that they would go ahead with the Satyagraha.

Replying to the BJP's allegation of insulting other backward classes (OBCs), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked are Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Lalit Modi OBCs They looted the country and ran away. If they are fugitives and Rahul Gandhi talked about them then why did you feel pain, he asked.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said this satyagraha is not just about the Congress or Rahul, this is about Indian democracy. It is about the very system of democracy itself, a system in which people should be free to speak, free to express their views, free to challenge the government with questions and hold the government accountable. This was the vision of opposition that PM Modi himself had called for.

Is it good for our democracy when the principal opposition leader is not allowed to raise his voice in Parliament, where we have a PM who speaks to the world about India as the mother of democracy, is this good for our country, Tharoor asked.

Rahul's disqualification will 'put in more steel' in Congress Chidambaram

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said his party's leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha would strengthen the Congress, helping its prospects in next year's general election.

Describing the political landscape as an undeclared emergency, Chidambaram said the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has made the Congress its prime target wishing its elimination in order to more easily manage the regional parties. However, he asserted that Congress would not be eliminated and regional parties would rise and fight the BJP.

The Congress is holding a day-long satyagraha in front of Gandhi statues at all states and district headquarters. The satyagraha was scheduled to begin at 10am and end at 5:00 pm.

Meanwhile, the BJP attacked the Congress, called its 'Satyagraha' a 'duragraha' (fight for falsehood). BJP leader RP Singh said the murderer of Sikhs (Jagdish Tytler) has joined this Satyagraha. Congress cannot survive without Tytler. The party invites him to every event. This is not Satyagraha, but an attempt is being made to reinstate Jagdish Tytler, who is accused of killing Sikhs. In February, Tytler was elected a member of the Congress committee.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the Satyagraha was a 'Duragraha' against the OBCs and courts.

Today's so-called Satyagraha by the Congress showed their Duragraha for court and and for the constitution because it was a court that convicted Rahul Gandhi ... It is a Duragraha against the OBC samaj to support such a statement, Poonawalla said.

Rahul 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 Rahul (52), a four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.

On Saturday, Rahul held a press conference where he said that democracy is under attack and that he is not scared to ask questions about the relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Adani Group.