Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan has said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should apologise to people in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency who had elected him to the Lok Sabha.

Muraleedharan said irresponsible statements cost Gandhi his Parliament seat and Wayanad voters needed a voice in the Lok Sabha. “The people of Wayanad gave him a huge majority, expecting that he would represent their interests in the Parliament, but due to his immature and irresponsible comments, the people of Wayanad are losing the opportunity to raise their issues in the Parliament,” the Union Minister said.

He alleged that Rahul Gandhi had done the electorate disfavour by depriving them of an MP.

The Union Minister also accused the leadership of attempting to lower the esteem of the judiciary by slamming Gujarat High Court for upholding the conviction of Ralul Gandhi on a defamation charge.

“Congress, the United Democratic Front (UDF), and Rahul Gandhi should personally apologize to the people of Wayanad,” Muraleedharan said.

Gujarat High Court on Friday upheld the Sessions Court’s order and denied a stay on his conviction in the defamation case against the ‘Modi surname’ remark.

The court dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s plea and noted that at least 10 criminal cases were pending against him and even after the present case, some more cases have been filed against him. One such case has been filed by the grandson of Veer Savarkar, the court said.

The High Court had in May reserved its order on Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 ‘Modi surname’ defamation case.

At a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in April 2019, Rahul Gandhi, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”. Following the session’s court verdict, Congress had said it will move the Gujarat High Court.

Congress general secreatry KC Venugopal on Friday wrote to the state party presidents requesting them to organise a massive one-day ‘Maun Satyagraha’ (silent protest), in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statues, at all state headquarters on July 12 to express solidarity with party leader Rahul Gandhi.

KC Venugopal wrote to all PCC presidents after the Gujarat High Court on Friday upheld the Sessions Court order denying a stay on the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case over the ‘Modi surname’ remark.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi “a habitual offender in insulting people”. The statement came after the Gujarat High Court refused to stay Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in connection with the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case.

Criticising the former MP and the Congress leader, Prasad said, “I outrightly condemn the comment of the Congress Party that it was part of a conspiracy to frame Rahul Gandhi leading to his conviction. The court gave him a chance to apologise. He did not and after that, he suffered the trial. He is a habitual offender of insulting people.”