Tewari renews open debate challenge, Tandon hits back

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, May 4

Congress candidate for Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat Manish Tewari today again directly attacked his rival candidate from BJP Sanjay Tandon on the social media platform ‘X’ by renewing his challenge for an open debate.

“Day 5 of my open challenge to Sanjay Tandon to come and debate with me on the burning issues of Chandigarh. My straight question to you — Why did Chandigarh BJP murder democracy in Chandigarh? Who is Anil Masih? Despite the Supreme Court ordering criminal action against him why he is roaming scot-free?” Tewari posted.

On this renewed debate challenge, Tandon told Chandigarh Tribune, “He has no other work than being available on social media. I have already squarely answered the questions. He just dodges my questions.”

Mentioning about his long list of already scheduled public events, Tandon had earlier instead asked Tewari to first explain to the voters the reason he shifted from Ludhiana to Anandpur Sahib in the last election and from Anandpur Sahib to Chandigarh in this election, before asking him for an open debate.

To this, Tewari had said even his father Late Balramji Das Tandon also contested from Amritsar and Rajpura Assembly constituencies.

However, no word on joining the debate has come so far. It seems the Congress leader will continue to chase the BJP leader on the debate issue as the June 1 Lok Sabha election draws near. Sources said some organisations asked them for a debate on a public platform, however it has not taken a shape yet.

Tewari has been raising the issues of “murder” of democracy, while Tandon has been listing achievements of the Modi government during the ongoing poll campaign. The BJP nominee has kept a distance from the Masih controversy, saying the matter was sub judice. Tewari has been trying to question the BJP over works done under its 10 years’ rule in Chandigarh.