Rahul Gandhi to Appear Before Bengaluru Court in Defamation Case

Bengaluru: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is to appear before a special Bengaluru court on Friday in connection with a defamation case filed by Karnataka BJP MLC Keshav Prasad.

According to the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Rahul Gandhi will appear before the Special MP/MLA court at 10.30 am. Shivakumar and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will also be present on the occasion. Shivakumar urged Congress party workers not to bring party flags, or raise slogans against the BJP in the court premises.

This defamation case was filed against the advertisement in local newspapers calling the BJP corrupt ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls. BJP MLC and General Secretary Keshav Prasad had filed the defamation case against the Congress.

Earlier, the court had granted bail to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president D K Shivakumar in this case. Rahul Gandhi is the fourth accused in the case. Karnataka’s BJP unit has asked the court to issue a non-bailable warrant against Rahul Gandhi for not appearing before the court on June 1. The Congress has claimed that Rahul was not involved in the publication of the advertisement.

The court has directed that Rahul must be present before it on June 7.