Rahul Gandhi vacates his official bungalow, says 'ready to pay any price for speaking the truth'

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday vacated his official bungalow at 12 Tughlak Lane which has been his home for the last 19 years.

“I am ready to pay any price for speaking the truth...," the Congress leader said he exited his official residence.

In a tweet, Congresss spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “Rahul ji has vacated his official residence today. His aim and destination is much beyond a house…”

“Home does not simply means four walls and a concrete roof. A home is a shelter where one can feel peace and love. What more one can expect when crores of people have opened their hearts and home for you”, Shrinate added.

“Today @RahulGandhi vacates his home at Tughlaq Lane in response to the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s order. The Court gave him 30 days to appeal &the HC or SC could still reinstate him, but his exemplary gesture to move out shows his respect for the rules,” Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said in a tweet.

The Lok Sabha Housing Committee, headed by BJP MP CR Patil, had sent Gandhi a letter asking him to vacate his official bungalow by April 22. Though he is required to move out according to the rules, Congress leaders have accused the Centre of political vendetta.

A disqualified MP is not entitled to a government accommodation and gets a one-month period to vacate his official residence.

The Gujarat court, while sentencing Rahul Gandhi to two years imprisonment in a defamation case, had given him 30 days to file an appeal, which he did, and lost on Thursday. This meant Gandhi, who was disqualified from the Parliament in view of his conviction by the Gujarat Court, cannot be reinstated as MP for now.

The former Wayanad MP will now have to appeal in the Gujarat High Court for a stay of his conviction. If stay is granted, then the disqualification may be revoked.

Last week, workers were seen moving away household objects as two trucks lay parked outside Gandhi’s bungalow.

Gandhi, who agreed to vacate the house, has been swamped with offers for homes by party leaders. For the time being, he has moved in with his mother Sonia Gandhi to her 10 Janpath residence.

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