Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is going to Kolar to address an election rally ahead of the Karnataka polls in May. Interestingly, it was because of remarks at a poll speech at Kolar in 2019 that recently got him convicted in a criminal defamation case and led to his disqualification as an MP.
Rahul Gandhi is likely to address a public rally in Kolar on April 5.
Dates for voting for the Karnataka Assembly election and the counting of votes were announced today. Votes will be cast on May 10 and counting will take place on May 13.
Top BJP leaders have already made multiple visits to the poll-bound state and held rallies and roadshows. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Karnataka eight times since January and Home Minister Amit Shah has toured the state nine times this year.
Local leaders of Congress, including Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, have been leading Congress's election campaign in Karnataka.
Rahul Gandhi's 'Modi surname' remarks during a rally in Kolar ahead of the 2019 general elections led to a case of criminal defamation filed against him at a court in Surat, Gujarat. The case was filed by Gujarat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.
The court on March 23 held him guilty and convicted him to a two-year-jail term but gave him a month's time to appeal against the sentence.
The conviction in the case and the two-year jail term got Rahul Gandhi disqualified from the Lok Sabha. He was a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad.