Modi-0, Rahul-129: that's the score on press conference by both as Congress attacks Modi amid Norway row

Even as a routine question posed by a Norwegian journalist to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oslo snowballed into a political flashpoint, the Congress on Tuesday stepped up its attack on Modi by releasing data on the number of press conferences addressed by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Sharing the numbers on X, the party said between 2014 and 2026, Rahul Gandhi has addressed 129 press conferences, while Modi has not held a single full-fledged press conference in his 12 years in office.

The Congress said Gandhi significantly increased his media engagement during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. In 2022, Gandhi addressed 11 press conferences, including nine during the yatra. In 2023, he held 20 interactions, five of them during the march. He followed this with 20 press conferences in 2024 and seven in 2025, the party said.

Taking a swipe at Modi, Gandhi had also shared the video clip recorded by the Norwegian journalist, Helle Lyng, on X, saying, “When there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear”.

Escalating his attack, Gandhi referred to Norway’s sovereign wealth fund reportedly dropping Adani Green Energy from its portfolio and asked: “We get very good information these days. Modiji, did Norway agree to your personal request to remove Adani from their pension fund blacklist?”

The BJP, however, dismissed the criticism, saying the Norway event was a joint media briefing and not a formal press conference. Party leaders, including Amit Malviya, pointed out that even the Norwegian Prime Minister did not take questions and accused the opposition of manufacturing a controversy during an important diplomatic visit.