Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday officially accepted the invitation for a debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said either he or party president Mallikarjun Kharge was ready to participate.

Rahul released his letter to Justice (retd) Madan B. Lokur, Justice (retd) A.P. Shah and journalist N. Ram in response to their invite for a debate.

"We agree that such a debate will help people understand our respective vision and enable them to make an informed choice. It is also critical to put to rest any unsubstantiated allegations attributed to our respective parties,’’ Rahul said.

Since the BJP has always preferred a presidential form of democracy over the parliamentary system that India has, some political scientists have questioned the initiative.

Political science professor Suhas Palsikar had on Thursday posted on X: "Well intentioned but misconceived initiative. BJP has already aimed at Presidentialization of parliamentary election. Nothing suits it more than projecting elections as plebiscite over the current PM. As such, a citizen initiative to legitimize this distortion is avoidable.’’