Telangana Congress leaders staged a protest at the party office in Hyderabad on Sunday, March 26 against the disqualification of party leader Rahul Gandhi from Parliament. Manikrao Thakare, the Congress party in-charge for Telangana, led the protest at Gandhi Bhavan, the state headquarters of the party.
Congress leader Tariq Anwar, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Revanth Reddy, MP Uttam Kumar Reddy and other leaders participated in the protest. The Congress leaders condemned Rahul Gandhi's disqualification and called it a conspiracy by the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They vowed to continue the protest till the disqualification is revoked.
Manikrao Thakare said, “Rahul Gandhi was targeted as he was exposing the loot of public wealth by [Gautam[ Adani with support from the Modi government.” He said that Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that he is not afraid of anybody and will continue to raise his voice for the poor.
Revanth Reddy alleged that Rahul Gandhi's disqualification is a conspiracy by Narendra Modi government. "The government was unable to politically face Rahul Gandhi and hence disqualified him," he said. "Today BJP might disqualify him but tomorrow he will be the Prime Minister," he added.
Uttam Kumar Reddy too alleged that Rahul Gandhi was disqualified under a conspiracy. He said that the speed with which the Congress leader was sentenced in the defamation case raised many doubts. He pointed out that trials in defamation cases tend to continue for years but in this case, the court delivered the judgement within a few weeks.
The former TPCC president said though the Surat court gave a month’s time to Rahul Gandhi to challenge the sentence in a higher court, the Modi government hastily disqualified him within 24 hours. The Congress leader said that since Rahul Gandhi had been raising his voice in the Parliament to expose the “Modi-Adani nexus,” the Union government got him disqualified to silence him.
MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said that if needed, all Congress MPs must resign to show solidarity with Rahul Gandhi. Former state Ministers K Jana Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, former Union Minister Renuka Chowdary, former MP V Hanumantha Rao and others participated in the protest.