BJP President Amit Shah on Friday was left struggling to find a suitable reply when a reporter asked him to comment on Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s charge on Prime Minister Narendra not holding a single press conference in more than four years. The reporter’s question seemingly came as a rude shock to Shah, who did not appear fully prepared on how to respond. Stuck for an answer, Shah decided to hide behind his controversial spokesperson Sambit Patra.
He said, “Sambit ji jawab denge Rahul ji ka (Sambit Patra will respond to Rahul Gandhi’s question).” Dissatisfied with Shah’s response, the reported persisted with his question, but the BJP president was still not prepared to reply as he repeated his reply, “Sambit Patra ji (will reply).” The reporter, India Today’s Mausami Singh, was not willing to take this as an answer and repeated his question. This left Shah visibly irritated as he replied, “Arre denge na, party ki ore se hi denge. (He will reply, his reply will be on behalf of the party only).” (Watch the video below.)
This is what BJP chief Amit Shah said when India Today's @mausamii2u asked for his opinion on Rahul Gandhi's comment that Modi had not held a press conference since he came to power. Listen in. #ITVideohttps://t.co/Nounxo6IKQ pic.twitter.com/E6EoVAqmyT
— India Today (@IndiaToday) December 7, 2018
Gandhi had taken a dig at Prime Minister Modi earlier this week by mocking him for not holding a single press conference during his term as prime minister for over four years. He had tweeted, “Dear Mr Modi, Now that campaigning is over, hope you can spare some time for your part-time job as PM. Btw its been 1,654 days since u became PM. Still no press conference? Some pics from our Hyderabad PC today. Try one someday, it’s fun having questions thrown at you!”
PM Modi has often come under media’s attack for not entertaining two-way interaction with the media since becoming the prime minister in 2014. His selected few interviews have been allotted to channels or media houses, known for being sympathetic to his government or the ideologies of his party, the BJP.
#WATCH: BJP President Amit Shah when asked, ‘Rahul Gandhi says PM has not held a single press conference in all these years’ says,”Sambit Patra ji jawab denge Rahul ji ka, party ki ore se hi denge.” pic.twitter.com/1nsfCHHKKf
— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2018