1MDB president Arul Kanda has withdrawn his condition to debate Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentarian Tony Pua on the troubled state fund.

“Despite my asking for a very reasonable condition, today I stand before you openly to say that I hereby withdraw my condition to debate Tony Pua. I will meet with him without condition,” he said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Pua on Wednesday had offered to interview Arul in a live talk show on 1MDB issues.

The 1MDB boss had accepted the offer on the condition that Pua quit his position in the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is investigating the government sovereign fund.

“To ensure that the PAC proceedings are above board, without reproach, the right thing to do, if you are a man, is to step down from the PAC,” Arul said.

The showdown seemed to have fizzled out yesterday when Pua said hosting a talk show with Arul was not worth quitting his position in PAC, where they are probing more than 1MDB.

Arul said that Pua is practicing double standards for refusing to step down from the PAC to interview him in the talk show.

“Of course, Pua, just like any other opposition member, has a different rule for him and a different rule for others. How can this be?” he lamented.

Now that he has retracted his condition, he said he looks forward to having the talk show as soon as possible.

“So that we can answer all the questions that Pua is going to put to us,” he quipped.

He also thanked Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak and Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) for offering to host the talk show.

“I am very grateful to RTM and the communications minister who offered to host this talk show on a live basis,” he said.

It remains to be seen if the government will keep its promise to air the talk show live, or telecast a delayed recording that is open to being censored.