BJP disputes Gandhi’s account of meeting with President Murmu

The Bharatiya Janata Party accused Rahul Gandhi of misrepresenting the opposition’s meeting with President Droupadi Murmu. Party spokesperson Sambit Patra said on October 10 that accepting a memorandum did not mean endorsing its allegations.

The dispute followed an INDIA bloc delegation’s visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. Gandhi said on X that the opposition had submitted a memorandum alleging interference in the electoral system by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Gandhi also wrote that Murmu had not denied the allegations of vote manipulation but had asked for proof. He promised to provide extensive evidence. That was the opposition leader’s account of the interaction.

Patra countered that receiving a memorandum was part of established constitutional protocol and did not validate its contents. He questioned Gandhi’s interpretation and asked why the opposition had not presented its evidence during the meeting.

The BJP spokesperson also challenged the opposition to take its allegations before the Election Commission of India. He called Gandhi an incompetent leader and accused him of seeking to draw the presidency into a street-level political confrontation. Those characterisations were Patra’s.

The delegation, led by Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi, included Mamata Banerjee, Rajiv Rai, Supriya Sule and Omar Abdullah. The public dispute concerns the meaning of the presidential meeting, rather than an established ruling by the President on the opposition’s allegations.