An MP-MLA court has summoned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a 2018 defamation case over alleged "objectionable" comments he made against Union minister Amit Shah, the petitioner's counsel said.

During a hearing on the case on Monday, MP/MLA court judge Yogesh Yadav summoned Gandhi on December 16, advocate Santosh Pandey said.

The defamation case was filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra in 2018 against the Congress leader for allegedly making "objectionable" comments against Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru.

The complainant had referred to Gandhi's comment that the BJP which claims to believe in honest and clean politics has a party president who is an "accused" in a murder case. Shah was the BJP president when Gandhi made the remark.

About four years before Gandhi's remark, a special CBI court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case when Shah was a minister of state for home in Gujarat.

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