Mamata Banerjee on Friday expressed her happiness with the Supreme Court's decision to stay Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the defamation case, which would pave the way for the restoration of his membership of the Parliament, and lauded it as a “victory for the judiciary”.
The Trinamul Congress chief issued a statement hours after the Supreme Court's decision.
“I am happy with the news about the MP-ship of @RahulGandhi This will further strengthen the resolve of the INDIA alliance to unitedly fight for our motherland and win. A victory of the judiciary!” posted Mamata on the microblogging site, X, referring to the likely restoration of the former Congress president’s status as the Lok Sabha member of Wayanad.
The Bengal chief minister's Trinamul Congress, a constituent of the 26-party anti-BJP bloc INDIA, has been showing significant signs of a softened approach towards the Congress since this summer. The Congress is also part of the INDIA.
Till the saffron regime’s manoeuvres earlier this year to have Rahul disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha, Mamata had been pitching firmly in favour of a pan-India coalition of Opposition forces with equidistance from the BJP and the Congress. Since his conviction in the defamation case and the subsequent disqualification, she, however, started recalibrating her approach of untouchability towards Rahul and his party.
The process of improvement was accelerated by the two meetings of the national Opposition in Patna and Bangalore. In Bangalore, where the formation of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was announced, her public cordiality towards Rahul —whom she called “our favourite” in a joint news conference – and his mother, Sonia Gandhi, was conspicuous.
During her Martyrs’ Day address on July 21, Mamata was silent on the Congress in her political attacks.
Mamata’s Bengal archrival but INDIA constituent CPM virtually echoed her on Friday.
“Rahul Gandhi had raised key questions on why the nation’s resources were being handed over to those like Gautam Adani. This is why the Narendra Modi regime had attacked him,” said CPM central committee member Samik Lahiri.
“But the country is still run by the Constitution, not the laws of the fascists. The Supreme Court proved it again today,” he added.
BJP’s Bengal chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “This was a legal matter and the BJP had nothing to do with it.”
“The Congress is a spent force anyway, and if Rahul Gandhi contests from Amethi again, he will lose by an even larger margin. Both he and his mother are out on bail anyway,” he added.
