It’s wrong’: AAP after HC’s refusal to stay Rahul’s conviction

The AAP on Friday came out in support of Rahul Gandhi and accused the BJP of indulging in ”unproductive politics” to divert people’s attention from real issues, after the Gujarat High Court dismissed Congress leader’s plea seeking stay on his conviction in a defamation case. While dismissing Gandhi’s plea, the court on Friday noted that he is already facing 10 cases across India, adding the order of the lower court was ”just, proper and legal” in convicting him. It also noted that there is no reasonable ground to stay Gandhi’s conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case over his ”Modi surname” remark. Asked about the court’s decision, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar told reporters that it was certainly wrong and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also called it ”wrong” when Gandhi was convicted in the case. On March 23, a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat had sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) in the case filed by BJP Gujarat MLA Purnesh Modi.