Hillary Clinton accuses Bernie Sanders of playing 'games'

Washington, April 3: Democrat Party front-runner Hillary Clinton has accused opponent Bernie Sanders of "playing games" as he and his aides rejected three potential dates for an additional Democratic debate in New York.

"Over the course of the last week, we have offered three specific dates for a debate in New York, all of which the Sanders campaign rejected," Clinton's national press secretary, Brian Fallon, said on Saturday, adding "The Sanders campaign needs to stop with the games."

The Clinton campaign offered to debate Sanders on Monday at 7.30 p.m., as well as on Thursday, and on ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Friday -- a date and time the Sanders campaign had originally signed off on, Fallon said.

"Senator Sanders and his team should stop the delays and accept a debate on April 14 on the morning of April 15," ABC News quoted Fallon as saying.

However, the Sanders' campaign shot down Monday's debate due to a potential conflict with a National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) championship game.

"Unfortunately, the dates and venues she (Clinton) has proposed don't make a whole lot of sense," Sanders campaign spokesperson Michael Briggs said, adding "The idea that they want a debate in New York on a night of the NCAA finals -- with Syracuse in the tournament no less -- is ludicrous."

The Sanders campaign added that it has "proposed other dates which they have rejected".

The latest back-and-forth over the Democratic debate schedule began last week when Sanders called for the Clinton campaign to accept a debate in Brooklyn, ahead of New York's primary on April 19.

In January, the Sanders and Clinton campaigns agreed to add four more debates into the schedule, after criticism from many in the Democratic Party, including Sanders, that there were too few debates.

IANS