Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], November 14 (ANI): Youth Congress national president Uday Bhanu Chib on Friday defended Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his phone-tapping allegations, saying that he would continue his fight for the people despite attempts to suppress him, while BJP leaders in Telangana dismissed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated.
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, Chib asked why the BJP would tap the phone of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and described him as a leader who consistently raises issues concerning the people.
“Why is the BJP tapping our leader’s phone? He is the person who serves as the Leader of the Opposition of this country. What does the BJP think? Not everyone works the way BJP leaders work. Rahul Ji is very honest and is a person who always fights for the people of our country. Whenever the BJP and the Modi government have tried to suppress the people of our country, Rahul Ji has stood up for them. No matter what they do, nothing matters to him—he is a fighter. He will fight this, and his fight for the people of this country will continue,” Chib told ANI.
Meanwhile, Telangana BJP spokesperson Prakash Reddy criticised Rahul Gandhi’s remarks, questioning the seriousness of the allegations and referring to the earlier controversy surrounding the Pegasus spyware issue.
“Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in this country, is speaking like a child, and his attitude is also childish…Phone tapping was raised earlier too, in the Pegasus case. You cried like anything, and after that, the Supreme Court intervened, and now the Pegasus issue is over. Once again, you are putting allegations against the Prime Minister…I don’t think there is any seriousness in his statement; it is only a political allegation,” Reddy said.
Telangana BJP president Ramchander Rao also rejected the allegations and challenged Rahul Gandhi to provide evidence to support his claims. He accused the Congress leader of repeatedly raising the issue without substantiating it and attempting to divert attention from other political matters.
“Mr Rahul Gandhi yet again is coming up with hollow challenges—challenges without any meaning. First, he wanted to have a street debate, and when the BJP said they would come to Parliament and debate, he dropped that demand. Now, he says that his phone is being tapped. Let him prove it. In 2018, 2021, and 2022, he made the same allegations again and again, but there is no proof with Mr Rahul Gandhi. He always does this because he has no points to debate on serious issues, so now he is diverting the subject to phone tapping. He made these phone-tapping allegations earlier as well. Therefore, these are baseless allegations against the BJP government. He is trying to fool the people and run away from the earlier challenges he made. Therefore, this is nothing but a diversionary tactic by Mr Rahul Gandhi to avoid a debate in Parliament on serious issues,” Rao said.
Earlier on Friday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi levelled serious allegations of him being surveilled by the Central government, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is having his phone tapped, while once again calling for the Prime Minister to agree to an open debate against him.
“The Prime Minister is aware of this because he has my phone tapped. The day he agrees to a face-to-face debate, everyone will learn who is under the control of foreign powers, who is anti-national, and how long they have been involved in anti-national activities,” Rahul Gandhi said in a video posted by Congress on X.
The LoP in Lok Sabha has said that the proof of PM Modi being under the control of “foreign powers” is already on his phone, and as such, the PM already knows what the proof is.
“The moment he (PM Modi) comes for an open debate, everybody will know who is being controlled by foreign powers, is an anti-national, since when, and lots of other details that I know and are on my phone,” Gandhi said. (ANI)
