Rahul's disqualification: Cong workers block Vaigai Express in Egmore

CHENNAI: Congress workers staged a rail roko and blocked a Vaigai Express train in Egmore on Saturday against party leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha, according to a Daily Thanthi report.

The protest was led by Tamil Nadu Congress president KS Alagiri. The party workers blocked the train, traveling from Chennai's Egmore to Madurai.

According to the sources, more than 50 people sat on the tracks and raised slogans against the Central government and condemned the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi.

Railway police and Egmore police rushed to the spot, arrested the protesters, and took them to a private marriage hall in buses.

A defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by former BJP MLA Purnesh Modi. After the disqualification of Rahul's membership from the Lok Sabha, the Congress has been vocal in protests all over the country.

The grand old party has been making an effort to rally like-minded Opposition players around it in the wake of Rahul's loss membership of in the Lower House.

Rahul's disqualification is the latest in a series of flashpoints between the Congress and the ruling BJP, with a united Opposition calling it a ploy to divert public attention from the Adani issue. Rahul Gandhi was elected to Lok Sabha in 2019 from Wayanad in Kerala. The party has said that it will challenge the Surat court verdict in a higher court.

On April 13, a sessions court in Surat said it would pronounce on April 20 its order on Rahul’s plea for a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.

Meanwhile, the Congress leader is scheduled to address a rally in Kolar today, where he had made Modi surname remarks for which he was convicted of criminal defamation leading to his disqualification from Parliament. He is reported to have started shifting his belongings from his 12, Tughlaq Lane residence as he was asked to vacate the premises by April 22 following his disqualification.