Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was granted bail on Tuesday by a special court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh in connection in a defamation case against him filed by a BJP leader for his remarks on Amit Shah in 2018.

The case was filed by the BJP leader in August 2018 for a remark made by Gandhi in May 2018 where he allegedly said that BJP claims to believe in honest and clean politics but its president is a murder accused, referring to Amit Shah.

Rahul Gandhi arrived at the court early on Tuesday from Fursatganj in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh where the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra halted for the night.

There are speculations going on that Rahul Gandhi may recontest from Amethi which has long been the seat of contest for the Gandhi family. Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had all be MPs of Amethi. Rahul Gandhi himself was the Lok Sabha MP from 2004 till 2019 when he was defeated by Smriti Irani of BJP. He however won from Wayanad in Kerala.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will go through Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh which is Sonia Gandhi’s seat since 2004 until some days ago when she filed her nomination to contest for Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, accompanied by her children and Congress leader Sachin Pilot. On 15th February 2024, a day after she had filed her nomination in Jaipur, Sonia Gandhi wrote a message for the people of Raebareli where she said, “I know that you will stand by me and my family in future, just as you have in the past”.

This has given rise to speculations that either Rahul Gandhi or his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest from the seat.