BENGALURU: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday was granted bail by a special court here in connection with a case filed by the BJP's Karnataka unit for issuing "defamatory" advertisements in mainstream newspapers.
The advertisement ahead of Assembly polls last year accused the then-BJP government in the state of indulging in large-scale corruption during its 2019–2023 rule.
On June 1, the court granted bail to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the State Congress chief, after they appeared before it in connection with the defamation case.
Judge KN Shivakumar had directed Gandhi to appear before the court on June 7 without fail.
The BJP had filed a private complaint accusing these leaders of defaming it through advertisements in newspapers on May 5, 2023, ahead of Assembly elections in the state.
Accusing the KPCC, Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi, the BJP, in its complaint, had alleged that all four parties had conspired and planned to defame it by levelling false allegations.
The BJP alleged that, as the state president of a political party, Shivakumar had released advertisements on May 5, 2023, to all newspapers in which he made baseless and false allegations against them under the title, “Corruption Rate Card."
(With inputs from PTI and ENS)