Nashik, Mar 25 (PTI) The Congress held a protest on Saturday in Nashik against the disqualification of its leader Rahul Gandhi as Lok Sabha MP following his two-year-jail sentence in a defamation case.

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The protest was held in front of a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar on Shivaji Road with participants shouting slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government.

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Gandhi was disqualified because he was raising issues of the people and was getting their support as was witnessed in the Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra, Nashik Congress chief Anil Chhajed said.

Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP on Friday after a court in Surat in Gujarat a day earlier sentenced him to two years in jail in a defamation case over his remark about the Modi surname and thieves.

The court granted him bail and suspended his sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

As per the Representation of the People Act, a person sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.

Meanwhile, the OBC Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party also held a protest against Gandhi for his Modi surname and thieves remark, with participants torching an effigy of the Congress leader in Ravivar Karanja area.

He has insulted the Other Backward Classes with his comments on the Modi surname, one of the protesters said.

BJP city president Girish Palve, OBC Morcha president Chandrakant Thorat were among those who took part.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)