Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had applied for an ordinary passport after surrendering the old diplomatic passport issued to him when he was an MP. (Image: PTI/File)
Sources said the passport office assured Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the morning that the passport would be issued to him on Sunday and he got it in the afternoon.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi got a new ordinary passport on Sunday, two days after a Delhi court granted it, sources said. He had applied for an ordinary passport after surrendering the old diplomatic passport issued to him when he was an MP and is set to leave for the US on Monday evening for a three-city tour.
Gandhi was disqualified as an MP in March after being convicted and jailed for two years by a Gujarat court in a defamation case over his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark. Sources said the passport office assured Gandhi in the morning that the passport would be issued to him on Sunday and he got it in the afternoon.
The Congress leader had moved a Delhi court, which on Friday issued him a no-objection certificate for issuing an ‘ordinary passport’ for three years instead of the 10 for which it is normally issued. Is. This was after objection from BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who is the complainant in the National Herald case. Gandhi is an accused in the case.
Beginning in San Francisco, where he is scheduled to interact with students at the prestigious Stanford University, Gandhi will address a press conference and hold meetings with lawmakers and think tanks in Washington DC. The Congress leader is also likely to address Indian Americans and interact with Wall Street executives and university students during his week-long visit to the US. He is scheduled to end his visit on June 4 with a public meeting in New York. The talk will take place at the Javits Center in New York.
The court, while granting the passport, noted that the National Herald case was pending at the stage of cross-examination of the complainant’s pre-charge evidence and that Gandhi has been regularly appearing either in person or through his counsel and not before the proceedings. obstruction or delay.
On 24 March, the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala was declared vacant after Rahul Gandhi, who represented it in the Lok Sabha, was disqualified after being convicted in a defamation case in which he was sentenced to two years in prison. The Congress leader’s sentence has been suspended, pending appeal.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,