The Supreme Court relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Modi surname case has spiced up the no-confidence motion fight coming up in Parliament next week, with Congress leaders pressing for his immediate re-instatement as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha.

Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on March 24, a day after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case for his remarks on the Modi surname. The Gujarat High Court (HC) had in July dismissed his plea for relief.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary said the party wants Gandhi to speak during the no-confidence motion debate. Choudhary said the Speaker has told him that he will take the decision soon and is waiting for the court order.

The discussion on the no-confidence motion will start on August 8, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply on August 10.

It remains to be seen if Gandhi will speak on the motion, as he did in 2018, the last time a no-confidence motion was brought in. Gandhi had then also gone and hugged PM Modi post his speech.

It is the prerogative of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to restore the membership of Gandhi. The Lok Sabha Secretariat will await the certified copy of the SC order before proceeding in the matter.

In an earlier case, the Lok Sabha Secretary General had restored the membership of Mohammad Faizal P.P. after a long delay, after the Kerala High court suspended his conviction in a murder case.

While the Kerala High Court had suspended his conviction on January 25 this year, his membership was only restored on March 29 after he moved the Supreme Court questioning the delay.

The restoration had, in fact, come a day before his matter was to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Congress leaders namely P Chidambaram and Sachin Pilot said the Speaker should immediately restore his membership. Karti Chidambaram said if the Speaker delays his decision, the Congress could go to the SC again.