NEW DELHI: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi today vacated his official residence at 12, Tughlaq Lane in New Delhi, where he had been living for nearly two decades as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the Congress party. He was disqualified as an MP after his conviction in March in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader for his remark on 'Modi surname' by a Surat court after which the Lok Sabha secretariat sent him a notice to vacate his house. 

Gandhi, who shifted his belongings to his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath bungalow, said he had paid the price for speaking the truth and that he is ready to pay any price for telling the truth. He thanked the people of India for giving him the opportunity to stay in the house and said he did not want to live there anymore as it was taken away from him.

“There is a price for speaking the truth these days! Whatever the cost, I will pay it,” Gandhi tweeted while sharing a video of the empty flat. He also told reporters that he spoke against the government and this was the result of that.

Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court on March 23 for his remark during a 2019 election rally that 'all thieves have Modi as their surname.' He was sentenced to two years in jail and fined Rs 15,000. He challenged the verdict in a sessions court, which rejected his plea to set aside the conviction on April 14. He is now expected to move the Gujarat High Court in the forthcoming week. 

As per the rules, a disqualified MP is not entitled to a government accommodation and has to vacate it within one month of disqualification. The Lok Sabha Secretariat had sent Gandhi a notice to vacate the premises by April 22.

Gandhi’s sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with Sonia Gandhi were present at the bungalow and they both expressed their support for him and said he spoke the truth and faced the consequences. Priyanka said her brother had exposed the failures of the Modi government on various issues such as Covid-19 management, farmers’ protest, unemployment and corruption.

Gandhi first got elected as an MP from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in 2004 and shifted his constituency to Wayanad in Kerala in 2019. He was elected as the Congress president in December 2017 preceding his mother, however, he resigned as the president after the party’s dismal performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.