Anurag Thakur said that Rahul Gandhi should accept Asaduddin Owaisi's challenge (File)
A day after All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi dared Rahul Gandhi to contest from Hyderabad in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday said that the Congress leader "should accept the challenge".
"The challenge should be accepted. This is a matter between two people. One is giving the challenge and the other should accept it," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader told reporters.
Mr Owaisi on Sunday challenged Mr Gandhi to contest from Hyderabad and not Wayanad in Kerala in next year's Lok Sabha elections.
"I tell your leader to contest from Hyderabad this time, not Wayanad. I challenge you to come to Hyderabad, why Wayanad?" he said.
The AIMIM chief, who is a four-time MP from Hyderabad, also cited the demolition of Babri masjid during the Congress regime, and said that a mosque which got demolished in the Secretariat in Hyderabad was rebuilt, but not Babri masjid.
The Congress and AIMIM are at loggerheads in Telangana as both parties are trying to win the upcoming state's Assembly elections, which are expected to be held later this year.
Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi had said that the BJP, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and AIMIM are working in unison in the state.
While addressing a rally in Telangana's Tukkuguda, he also said that while opposition leaders were being attacked by government agencies there were no cases against Mr Rao and AIMIM leaders because Prime Minister Narendra Modi considers them his own.
"All corruption records have been broken but there is no case," Mr Gandhi said as he attacked BRS.
He claimed that whenever the BJP needed its help, the BRS supported them.