Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday renewed his challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an open debate, saying 24 hours had passed since he first issued the invitation.
In a post on X, Gandhi asked Modi to choose any venue and time for the debate, which he said should be held in the presence of the media and young people. He also suggested that the Prime Minister could appoint anyone, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, to moderate the discussion.
Gandhi said the debate should cover allegations of foreign influence, India's financial system, the US trade deal, the Adani case and the Epstein controversy.
"Who is anti-national? Who has connections with foreign forces? And what is the nature of those connections?" Gandhi asked, reiterating his challenge to the Prime Minister.
He also referred to the nearly 45 defamation cases he claimed had been filed against him, questioning why no such case had been initiated over his allegations concerning foreign connections. He challenged Modi to take legal action if he believed the remarks were defamatory.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the government was ready to discuss all issues in Parliament and was even willing to convene a special session for the purpose.
Speaking at an event in Raipur, Shah challenged Gandhi to participate in a parliamentary debate, accusing the Congress of creating a parallel Parliament through its recent protest and mock proceedings against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Shah said the government was prepared to discuss every issue but accused the Opposition of repeatedly disrupting parliamentary proceedings.
The exchange comes amid a political confrontation between the BJP and Opposition parties over allegations of electoral irregularities, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the functioning of the Election Commission.
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