Rahul gets bail on surety

Mumbai : A Mumbai Magistrate on Thursday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on a personal bond of Rs 15,000 in connection with a defamation case filed by an RSS worker, a party leader said.

The surety amount was provided by former Mumbai MP Eknath Gaikwad who accompanied him to the hearing.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also got the bail.

Earlier, during the course of the short hearing, Gandhi pleaded 'not guilty' to the charges levelled against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker.

The case was filed by RSS worker Dhrutiman Joshi who accused Gandhi of linking the right-wing organization with the murder of Bengaluru-based journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017.

In his plea filed in 2017, Joshi had contended that barely 24 hours after the Lankesh killing, Gandhi had posted tweets allegedly blaming the RSS and its ideology for the journalist's murder.

"For a mere political score, the accused (Gandhi) had unnecessarily dragged the name of RSS and it is a move to rake up negative sentiments in the minds of people against the RSS," Joshi's complaint said.

Will fight 10 times: Rahul

A day after he quit as Congress President, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday vowed to continue fighting "10 times more" than what he did in the past years.

Speaking to media persons briefly, unmindful of standing in the rain, he said: "I am with the poor and the farmers."

"My fight will continue. I will fight 10 time more than I did in the past five years," Gandhi asserted, indicating an aggressive stance in the future.

Meanwhile, a day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the party post issuing his resignation on a public platform owning responsibility for the party's national election debacle, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: "Few have the courage that you do".

"Few have the courage that you do @rahulgandhi. Deepest respect for your decision," tweeted Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, and re-tweeted her brother's post.