Speaking to Newslaundry on condition of anonymity, an employee from Times Now’s guest coordination team told us that initially, it was Thakur’s wife Sushma who was originally invited to join Kumar’s debate at 9 pm. “When the mother backed out at 8:45 pm because of her health, the father (Varun Thakur) agreed to join us,” the employee said. “They were to be with us for the first 15 minutes and then join Republic TV, but when they found out Kailash Satyarthi was to be a part of the debate, Varun’s brother Surjeet said he [Thakur] would like to continue till 9:25 pm.”