Rahul Gandhi files appeal in Surat, his bail extended; next hearing 13 April

Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday afternoon secured bail from a sessions court in Gujarat's Surat in the 'Modi surname' criminal defamation case, in connection with which he was last month convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. That sentence had been immediately suspended and the ex-MP given bail to allow him time to lodge this appeal. The court today extended Rahul Gandhi's bail till 13 April- the next date of hearing - and continued the hold on his sentence, offering the embattled Congress leader major relief.

Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the chief ministers of the three party-ruled states - Rajasthan (Ashok Gehlot), Chhattisgarh (Bhupesh Baghel) and Himachal (Sukvinder Singh Sukhu).

"We are confident the appeals court will appreciate blatant errors of (the) trial court and do justice expeditiously," Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress leader supervising Rahul Gandhi's legal team, said earlier in the day.

Last month the court in prime minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat held Gandhi guilty of defamation over a remark made before the 2019 election.

Speaking in Karnataka's Kolar, he referred to fugitives Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi and said he wondered if all thieves had 'Modi' as a surname.

The remark was seen as a slight on the prime minister.

The verdict was crucial not just from the point of view of optics, but also because it meant he could not contest an election for eight years, ruling him out of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll unless the conviction and sentence are stayed.

The case was filed after a complaint by then BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.

The verdict and the disqualification from Parliament triggered a furious political squabble between the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Significantly, other opposition parties - including Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool and K Chandrashekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi, neither of whom have cordial relations with Rahul Gandhi's party - united in support, as did Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.

In his first remarks after the verdict, Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP and prime minister Modi, accusing the latter of engineering his disqualification over he was afraid his next speech in Parliament; Rahul Gandhi and the Congress has been critical of the BJP and Modi over the Adani-Hindenburg row.

Meanwhile, the BJP today hit out at Congress and Rahul Gandhi over the opposition party's show of strength in Surat, with union law minister Kiren Rijiju accusing them of trying to put undue pressure on the courts.

"… is not required of a convict to go personally to file an Appeal. Generally, no convict goes personally. His (Rahul Gandhi) going personally with a motley group of leaders… is only a drama. What Rahul Gandhi is doing is also a childish attempt to bring pressure on the appellate court…" he tweeted.