Hyderabad: The Congress would fight the disqualification of party leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha legally with the party’s legal team finalising the course of action and would also go to people to inform them about the “prevailing situation” in the country, Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said on Tuesday. Chavan, who spoke about the chronology of events in the case of Gandhi’s disqualification beginning with his election speech in Karnataka in 2019, alleged a political conspiracy to see that Gandhi would not be able to raise his voice in Parliament.

He addressed a press conference here on Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha.

Asked about the comments of a US official on the Gandhi’s disqualification issue, Chavan said he has not seen the statement, adding that all internal issues should be resolved within the country.

The United States is watching the court case of Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, a US official had said while observing that Washington continues to engage with India on the shared commitment towards democratic principles and the protection of human rights, including freedom of expression.

Chavan expressed confidence that former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s objection to Gandhi’s comments on V D Savarkar would not affect the unity of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners – NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT).

The MVA partners have planned several public meetings beginning April 2, he said.

On ruling BRS in Telangana planning to contest panchayat elections in Maharashtra, Chavan said BRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had visited Nanded district twice in a short span of time and that anyone is free to visit anywhere in the country. Nanded is the home district of Chavan. He welcomed Rao’s stance against the disqualification of Gandhi.

Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat Court on March 23 in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.

A day later, the Lok Sabha Secretariat in a notification said that his disqualification was effective from the day of his conviction.