Nose wiping issue: Rahul bid to wipe it clean before Kharge

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who triggered a meme fest after he was seen in a video wiping his nose on the back of his party chief Mallikarjun Kharge a few days ago, was found trying to 'clarify' to Kharge on the matter and wipe the issue clean.

As the duo was going to attend a meeting of party MPs at the office in Parliament premises on Friday, Gandhi slammed the media while helping Kharge walk down the stairs. He was then heard telling Kharge, "If I (even) touch you now, they (will) say I'm wiping my nose on your back."

"Utter nonsense. Have you seen that (video)? That I am helping you over there (but) they're saying that I'm wiping my nose on you," ANI quoted Gandhi as saying.

A few days ago, the Karnataka BJP had shared a video in which Gandhi was apparently, after cleaning his nose, wiping his hand on Kharge's back. Sharing the video, the BJP tweeted, "UNFORTUNATELY, the video epitomises what 'Gandhi's' think of senior leaders like @kharge. It is highly condemnable that @RahulGandhi uses somebody as his TISSUE PAPER! This Humiliation to a Kannadiga can not be forgiven. [sic]"

Meanwhile, Gandhi has been disqualified from Lok Sabha on Friday after his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case. Announcing his disqualification in a notification, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said that it is effective from March 23, the day of his conviction.

"Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat... Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala, stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023," PTI quoted the notification.

The Surat court on Thursday sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a defamation case filed on the basis of a complaint by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi for the Congress leader's remark "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" while delivering a speech in 2019.