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‘Panicked, defensive’: What Rahul Gandhi said after Amit Shah's heated swipe in Lok Sabha
During the heated exchange, Amit Shah had said that the Opposition should remain ‘patient’ as he will answer each of their question according to his own order.
After one of the most heated exchanges in the Lok Sabha between Union home minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, the Congress MP described the former's response to his 'vote theft' claims as "panicked" and "defensive".
Amit Shah was responding to the Opposition's claims and accusations during the debate on electoral reforms on Wednesday evening, when Rahul interrupted him and said, "Amit Shah ji, I challenge you to have a debate on my three press conferences."
Rahul's action infuriated Shah and prompted a blunt remark from the Union minister, who said that he would not change the order of his speech to the LoP's preference.
"First of all, I want to make it clear....I have long experience, and I will decide the order of my speech...they should be patient... I will answer each question...but they cannot decide the order of my speech," Amit Shah said.
Speaking to reporters following the confrontation in the Lower House of the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, "The home minister's response in the Parliament on vote theft is a panicked, defensive response."
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The Congress leader said that Shah did not respond to the points raised by the Opposition.
"I had asked him a few things, had asked for a transparent voter list for all, but he did not say a word about it. I had asked for the EVM architecture to be provided to all, but he didn't say a word. I had said BJP leaders are voting in Haryana and Bihar, but he did not speak on it. My press conference has solid proof, but he did not speak about it," Rahul Gandhi told reporters.
He further alleged that the chief election commissioner is "being given full immunity".
Additionally, in a post on X, the Congress leader also said that Shah did not give any response on his question regarding the Chief Justice of India's removal from the selection panel for CECs and ECs.
"Absurd response on granting immunity to the EC. The excuse for not providing CCTV footage is also highly ridiculous," Rahul added.
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The fierce exchange between the two leaders came after Shah responded to Rahul's allegations of voter list manipulation during his press conference. The Union minister noted that the LoP had said "in a press conference on November 5 he had dropped an 'atomic bomb' -- and in that so-called bomb, he claimed that 501 votes were registered at a single house in Haryana."
Dismissing Rahul Gandhi's claims as 'unfounded', Shah said that the Election Commission's explanation had already made it clear that there was nothing irregular about the address in question.
