Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a sharp counterattack on Rahul Gandhi over the SIR row, accusing the Congress of defending illegal infiltrators and rejecting allegations of large-scale voter deletions. Addressing a rally in Hyderabad, Amit Shah challenged Rahul Gandhi to a debate on SIR, claimed non-existent and duplicate entries were being removed from electoral rolls, and asserted that the BJP would continue its campaign against illegal immigration and electoral irregularities.