Chirag Paswan on Rahul Gandhi's phone-tapping charge: 'He wants to ensure upcoming...'

Union minister Chirag Paswan on Saturday claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's phone-tapping allegation is a 'tactic' to ensure that the upcoming Parliament session is a "washout". He accused Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, of establishing a 'pattern' of levelling charges, which the Congress MP does not "authenticate or validate". "As the LoP, Rahul Gandhi is expected to speak and act with responsibility. But he always shoots and scoots. He has never cared to authenticate or validate any of the charges he has made," claimed Paswan, who was approached by journalists with queries about the former Congress president's latest charge.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was tapping his phone and said that if the two of them have a one-on-one "debate", it will become clear "who is an anti-national". The BJP leadership hit back at Gandhi, saying that Gandhi's allegations were "baseless" and that he levels such allegations without substance. Responding to a question during an "Ask Me Anything" session on Instagram, Gandhi said: "The proof is here. It is in this phone. The PM knows it because he taps my phone. The moment he comes for the debate, one-on-one debate, everybody will know who is controlled by foreign powers, who is an anti-national and since when he has been an anti-national and lots of other details that I know and are on my phone."

The Hajipur MP trained his guns at Gandhi over the "vote chori" charge, pointing out that "not even one lakh people have come up to support his allegation that names of millions of voters have been deleted in the SIR (Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls)". "The poor turnout at his rally in Delhi earlier this month proved that accusations made by him have not resonated with the people," Paswan claimed.