'Rahul's disqualification not linked to him raising Adani issue': Ravi Shankar Prasad

Moments after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a press conference over his disqualification, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back and said that Rahul’s conviction in a defamation case and the subsequent disqualification was not linked to him raising the Adani Group issue.

Prasad also alleged that Congress did not press into service its battery of lawyers to immediately obtain a stay on Gandhi's conviction by a Gujarat court with a view to "encashing" the issue in the upcoming assembly polls in Karnataka.

"Abusive, not critical," says Prasad

The former union minister also charged Gandhi with having been "abusive, not critical" in his utterances about the Modi surname which led to the defamation suit in 2019.

He asserted that the Congress leader had "insulted OBCs, an issue that will be taken up in all earnestness by the BJP across the country". 

Prasad's response comes after Rahul’s statement earlier in the day in which he said that he does not care even if he is permanently disqualified from the Lok Sabha. 

“Please understand why I have been disqualified. I have been disqualified because PM Narendra Modi is scared of my next speech on Adani. I have seen it in his eyes,” the former Wayanad MP had said.

Earlier on Friday, Rahul was disqualified from Lok Sabha after a court in Surat convicted him in the criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark. 

( With inputs from PTI)