Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday said Rahul Gandhi was punished for his "misdeeds", apparently referring to the Congress leader's disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
He said Gandhi had insulted and hurt the sentiments of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community for which the court punished him.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) played no role in the whole episode, he asserted.
Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on March 24, a day after he was convicted in a defamation case by a Surat court over his purported remark on the Modi surname.
Exuding confidence that the BJP would come to power in the next general election, Thakur said Narendra Modi will once again become the Prime Minister of the country in 2024 because the people of the country wanted to see him lead the country for another term.
Speaking about the Bilaspur railway line project, he said the work of land acquisition for the same has been completed and a budget of Rs 1,000 crore rupees has also been allocated.
However, the problem is that the Himachal Pradesh government is not giving its share for the project, the BJP leader added.
Talking about the preparation in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he informed that BJP president J P Nadda would meet the party leaders and cadre at Hamirpur on June 12 to prepare them for the elections.
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