Rahul Gandhi to appear before Patna court today
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi will appear before a court in Patna on Saturday, in connection with a defamation case filed against him by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader had filed the case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) court in April, taking exception to a snide remark made by Mr Gandhi at an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar district that all thieves had the surname Modi -- referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bank-fraud accused Nirav Modi and former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi.
The case was referred by CJM Shashikant Roy to ACJM Kumar Gunjan.
Rahul Gandhi had visited Patna in May, where he had held a roadshow for actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha.
Sinha had failed to retain the Patna Sahib seat on a Congress ticket in the parliamentary polls held in April-May.
A media report suggests that Mr Gandhi might also visit Muzaffarpur, about 60 km from, which has been the worst affected by a state-wide outbreak of brain fever, which has claimed more than 150 lives.
However, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) working president Kaukab Qadri said the full itinerary of the former party chief''s visit was not made available yet, "though we see little possibility of Gandhi visiting Muzaffarpur since had it been on the cards, advice would have been given to the state unit for making the necessary arrangements".
Earlier this week, Rahul Gandhi had resigned as the Congress chief, taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat in Lok Sabha elections.
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Video: Rahul Gandhi to appear before Patna Court today in defamation case
