Rahul's charge, fresh debate dare draw sharp BJP response
NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Modi government of tapping his phone, claiming that the Prime Minister was aware of the surveillance. He once again challenged PM Modi to a face-to-face public debate, saying it would expose who was under the control of foreign powers and involved in anti-national activities. "The Prime Minister is aware of this because he has my phone tapped," Rahul said in a video posted by the Congress on X. Rahul also shared another video on X later, accusing PM Modi of relying on a script and claiming that the pressure of facing him in a debate was getting to the Prime Minister. "The stage is yours, the atmosphere is yours—yet you still needed a script. Looks like the pressure got to you," Rahul wrote in the caption. Reiterating his challenge, the Congress leader said, "Anyway, no worries. Bring a teleprompter to a debate with me too, and seat a judge of your choice as well." "Just show up, that’s all. The country wants to know - who is the real traitor?" he added. In the video, Rahul claimed that a direct debate with him could end PM Modi's political career. Rahul said, “I kept repeating it. The Prime Minister's political career, mark my words, the PM's political career will be over if he comes and debates with me. He knows that, and I know that. He keeps calling me anti-national. I want to show the nation exactly who is anti-national, exactly who's controlled by whom and since when. And he knows the truth of that." “Notice something. There's a little fear in his mind because he's no longer commenting on me. He's no longer attacking me. He's been very, very careful. There's a reason for it, guys,” Raebareli MP said.
Akhilesh backs Rahul
Backing INDIA bloc colleague, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said that phones and modern technology could not be trusted in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). "One should not trust the technology of today. In the age of AI, anything is possible," Akhilesh said, referring to Rahul's phone-tapping allegation. He also recalled that a leader who was no longer alive had once spoken about his phone being tapped.
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BJP hits back
Meanwhile, the BJP hit back at Rahul's allegations, with Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar dismissing the phone-tapping claim and launching a personal attack on the Congress leader. "Rahul Gandhi, I can only safely say to him, with all respect, must get his head examined. Nobody is bothered tapping his phone. Nobody is interested in tapping his phone. If anybody is interested, it's to understand why his brain only functions on lies day after day," Chandrasekhar said. The BJP had earlier rejected Rahul's demand for a debate with PM Modi. Union home minister Amit Shah had challenged the Congress leader to debate him in Parliament instead, asking Rahul to bring his allegations and arguments to the House rather than take the political debate to the streets.
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