Rahul Gandhi to Reapply for Tughlaq Lane House After Parliament Reinstatement

New Delhi, August 8, 2023: Following his reinstatement in parliament, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will need to submit a fresh application to the parliamentary housing committee to regain possession of his Tughlaq Lane residence. Currently unassigned, sources suggest that once Gandhi submits his application, he will be allocated the house again.

Gandhi had vacated the residence shortly after his Lok Sabha membership was revoked on March 24 due to a two-year jail term sentence in the Modi surname case. Any punishment exceeding two years automatically disqualifies a lawmaker.

During this period, he has been residing at his mother Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath Road residence.

Earlier today, Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary raised the issue of Gandhi’s house before the Lok Sabha housing committee. He expressed his intent to apply on Gandhi’s behalf but was informed that, according to the rules, only Gandhi can initiate the application.

The Congress party had accused the Centre of political vendetta when the Lok Sabha Housing Committee required Gandhi to vacate the government accommodation. This led to an impromptu nationwide campaign titled “Mera ghar aapka ghar (my home is your home)” where Gandhi received offers to stay from numerous Congress leaders and supporters.

Prominent Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Rai was the first to symbolically offer his home to Gandhi. “The dictators of the country want to snatch the residence of our leader Rahul Gandhi. But they do not know that the houses of crores of party workers across the country belong to Rahul Gandhi,” Rai stated.

Gandhi’s reinstatement to the Lok Sabha transpired today after the Supreme Court suspended his conviction on Friday. The court stated, “No reason has been given by the trial judge for imposing the maximum sentence, the order of conviction needs to be stayed pending final adjudication.”

A Gujarat court had sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail due to his comments on PM Modi’s surname. During a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar ahead of the 2019 general election, Gandhi had remarked, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” However, he was accused of insulting a backward community, resulting in a police case against him.