Rahul Gandhi to kick start his election campaign in poll-bound Karnataka from site of 2019 'Modi' remark

This will be his first rally after his disqualification as a Member of Parliament following his two-year jail sentence for a remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname.

The Kolar rally is scheduled to be held on April 5 and the Karnataka assembly election is due on May 10.

"Rahul Gandhi will return to Kolar and begin his Satyameva Jayate Rally. We had requested him to begin the election yatra from here. Where he had made this statement, and which the BJP condemned his statement, he will begin his mega rally from here," said state party chief DK Shivakumar.

In a run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi made the controversial "Modi community" comment in Kolar itself.

"How come all thieves have the common surname Modi," Gandhi had said in an apparent dig at the Prime Minister with a reference to fugitive businessmen Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi. 

But it was seen by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as an insult to Other Backward Classes and Purnesh Modi, a party leader from Gujarat, had filed a case.

Gandhi, meanwhile, refused to apologise for his comment.

On Friday, he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha, leading to a huge opposition outcry.

Leaders from 18 opposition parties have slammed the central government. The disqualification is seen as a catalyst to unify the opposition ahead of next year's general election.