Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge celebrated the occasion with sweets.
Opposition leaders from the INDIA alliance hailed Rahul Gandhi's reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP, calling it a "victory of truth". As soon as the announcement came in, celebrations broke out at the Congress headquarters in Delhi with workers dancing and raising slogans in favour of Mr Gandhi. The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification announcing that his disqualification has been revoked and his membership restored.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge celebrated the occasion with sweets.
Earlier today, the opposition hit out at the government for not reinstating Rahul Gandhi's membership immediately after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a defamation case. The Supreme Court said that while the Congress leader's remarks were not in good taste, his disqualification from parliament would affect his constituents. The ruling came on Friday.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav wondered that while the House dismissed him within hours of being convicted in the Modi surname case, why there is so much delay in restoring his membership.
"The readiness and happiness with which the BJP government accepted Rahul Gandhi's membership on the decision of the Surat Sessions Court in a few hours, why so much delay in restoring it even after the decision of the Supreme Court?," Mr Yadav said in a tweet.
"Has the Modi government, which trampled the Constitution and democracy and created a mountain of hatred and failures in 9 years, scared of the unity of the opposition and the public?," he added.
Samajwadi Chief Akhilesh Yadav, echoing the sentiment, said that BJP's 'conspiracy' has now been exposed.
"While conspiring to snatch the membership of the MPs and MLAs of the BJP opposition, it has now itself become its victim. Now let's see how quickly it suspends the membership of its MP and how quickly they restore the membership of others. The conspiracy of BJP has now been exposed," he said.
Earlier this year, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court and sentenced to prison for two years for a 2019 speech in which he linked PM Modi's last name with two fugitive businessmen, remarking how the "thieves" shared the same last name.
The defamation case was filed against Mr Gandhi by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying "How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?"
The suspension of Rahul Gandhi proved to be a uniting factor of a fractured opposition, with 26 parties now joining hands to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition parties decided to take on PM Modi in the polls under the new name INDIA or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. They said the name symbolised their fight for the "idea of India" that is being attacked.