Disqualified from Lok Sabha as PM scared of my next speech on Adani issue: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed on Saturday that he had been disqualified from the Lok Sabha because Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scared of his next speech on the Adani issue and alleged that the "whole game" was to distract people from the panic that the government was feeling over the matter.

At his first press conference after being disqualified from the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said he would keep asking questions on the issue involving industrialist Gautam Adani's business empire and would not be scared by disqualification or being put in jail.

The former Congress chief was flanked at the press meet by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel and party general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal.

Gandhi said the moot question remains who invested Rs 20,000 crore in Adani shell firms, and he will keep asking that question.

Asked if he was hopeful that his membership would be restored, Gandhi said, "I am not interested in hope. (Whether) I get my membership back or not, I will do my job. Even if they permanently disqualify me I will do my job, if they reinstate me, I will do my job. It does not matter to me whether I am in Parliament or outside it. I have to do my 'tapasya', and I will keep doing it," he said.

Asked about the consequences of his disqualification, Gandhi said the Opposition will benefit the most from this "panic reaction of Prime Minister Modi".

"They have handed us this weapon. They got into panic mode that the truth will come out. They have handed over the biggest weapon to the Opposition because people have a question on their mind, they know Adani is corrupt, and question is why is the prime minister saving this corrupt person," Gandhi said.

The Congress leader also thanked all opposition parties for extending support to him and asserted that going forward, all of them will work together.

He also said attacks are being made on democracy in the country, and examples of it keep manifesting from time to time.

Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, nearly 24 hours after a court in Gujarat's Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case, an action the Congress slammed as the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "vindictive politics" and vowed to fight against it legally and politically.

The BJP dismissed the charge and termed Gandhi's disqualification "lawful".

The disqualification from the Lok Sabha will bar Gandhi (52), a four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.

Inputs from PTI