New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has accepted the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s challenge to have a debate on the development of Thiruvananthapuram.

In his post on X, Tharoor said that he welcomed the debate but also accused Chandrasekhar of evading the debate till now.

“Yes, I welcome a debate. But the people of Thiruvananthapuram are aware of who has been evading a debate till now. Let us debate politics and development. Let us debate price hike, unemployment, corruption, communalism and the BJP’s 10 years of propagating politics of hatred,” he said.

The Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce and Industry invited all three candidates for a debate. The other two declined and said they would prefer to meet the TCCI individually. BJP candidate has done so today and I will follow suit in due course. So much for debating! https://t.co/RuCs2ibrG4

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 8, 2024

“Let us also discuss about the development of Thiruvananthapuram and the visible progress we have made in the last 15 years,” Tharoor added.

Earlier in a post on X, Chandrasekhar accused Tharoor of spreading misinformation during a recent interview with the Kerala-based news organization where he falsely accused Chandrasekhar of offering money to religious leaders and key voters in the constituency.

In his post on X Rajeev said, “We have been debating in multiple forums during the last two weeks, and people have seen you struggle for answers to my questions on these occasions. Forced into a defensive mode, you chose to disseminate falsehoods that not only defamed me but also besmirched numerous social and religious organizations within my constituency. Therefore, to start with, you need to answer the following questions I have posed to you.”

“I demand an immediate retraction of these baseless accusations and a sincere apology directed towards me and to these esteemed individuals. After that, let’s engage in a constructive debate for the comprehensive development of Thiruvananthapuram,” Chandrasekhar added.

Notably, a letter has been sent to the Election Commission of India, the Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, and Adeela Abdullah, the Additional Chief Electoral Officer & Additional Secretary Nodal Officer of Model Code of Conduct, Kerala, stating that Tharoor violated the Model Code of Conduct by spreading falsehoods and misinformation about Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The letter sent on Monday was written by advocate VV Rajesh, the NDA convener for Trivandrum Parliamentary constituency.

Notably, the constituency of Thiruvananthapuram will go to the polls on April 26 during the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections. This constituency in Kerala is being closely watched due to a high-profile contest between Congress’ Shashi Tharoor and the BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar.