The BJP criticised the Congress for staging a "satyagraha" to protest the disqualification of its party leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, saying the party was protesting for "personal reason".

Addressing the media, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said: "(Mahatma) Gandhiji did his first Satyagraha for a social cause. Whereas here they (the Congress) are seen doing it against the court after being convicted for their own personal reasons."

"Congress considers themselves superior to the court. And they will decide in what manner and on what basis the court should give its verdict?" he asked.

Slamming Gandhi, Trivedi said: "When you speak against India, talk about this kind of hatred against backward society and then when you are punished by the court and then when you try to make political allegations on it, I find it impudent and shameless."

Gandhi was convicted on Thursday by a Surat court in a 2019 defamation case with the court sentencing the party leader to 2-year imprisonment. He was disqualified from the Lok Sabha the next day. (KB/IANS)