Adhir Ranjan urges Chair to allow Rahul Gandhi to attend House at earliest

New Delhi: Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday urged the Chair to allow Rahul Gandhi to attend the House after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a criminal defamation case.

When the House was taking up private members' business, Chowdhury urged Rajendra Agrawal, who was presiding over the proceedings, to allow Gandhi to attend the House.

"Our leader Rahul ji got relief from the Supreme Court. I demand from the Chair to allow him to attend the House at the earliest," he said.

Agrawal said the Speaker would naturally take cognisance of the development.

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark, restoring his status as an MP.

A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha and Sanjay Kumar said no doubt that the utterances were not in good taste and that a person in public life is expected to exercise caution while making public speeches.

"No reason has been given by the trial judge for imposing maximum sentence, the order of conviction needs to be stayed pending final adjudication," the bench said.

Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member following his conviction on March 23.