Solution to crisis of Indian democracy has to come from within: Rahul Gandhi

The crisis of Indian democracy is the country's problem and its solution will have to be found within as it will not come from outside, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said.

Gandhi also clarified that he did not seek the intervention of the governments of UK, France, the US, or Germany, as was being claimed by the ruling BJP.

Gandhi also said that the BJP's demand for an apology for his remarks on democracy is an altogether different issue from the Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the affairs of Gautam Adani. Thus, linking the withdrawal of demand for an apology to the roll back of the demand for a JPC probe is not acceptable, he said. “We are not ready for any such deal,” he said.

Congress hits back at BJP's demand for Rahul Gandhi's apology

"If you want to resolve this impasse, the only way out is to allow Gandhi to speak under rule 357 and make a statement. Ravi Shankar Prasad was allowed to make a statement in 2015 when charges were levelled against him by the then chief whip of Congress and Gandhi has quoted this precedent," said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh.

“The questions we are asking are fundamental questions. The BJP's demand of an apology is just baseless. It is based on false allegations. So, to say that you take back your demand and then we will take back the demand for an apology, we are not ready for any such bargain,” Ramesh said at the AICC HQ on Wednesday.

“We are not agreeable to this because the two things are like chalk and cheese. The demand for apology is being repeated so that attention is diverted from the Adani issue. Their strategy is 3D -- distort, defame and divert. They distorted Rahul Gandhi's remarks, defamed him and now want to divert attention from the Adani issue," he said.

'We don't want to question Adani'

Ramesh, however, clarified that no one from the government has spoken directly with the opposition.

The Congress leader also clarified that the panel of specialists set up by the Supreme Court is Adani centric. “But we don't want to question Adani. We want to ask questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government. Our questions can be raised only in the JPC. The Supreme Court panel will not even consider them,” he said.