Sam Pitroda, the Congress party’s main man abroad, has dismissed allegations of foreign funding and overseas influence on the party as “bogus” and dared the BJP to show evidence instead of circulating photographs and making what he termed “manufactured claims”.
Sam Pitroda came to the Congress’s defence after the BJP alleged the Opposition forces have alleged ties to foreign entities and elements critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Pitroda came to his party’s defence after the BJP alleged the Opposition forces have alleged ties to foreign entities and elements critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He specifically rejected claims linking him and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to billionaire investor George Soros, who has repeatedly figured in the BJP’s allegations of foreign influence on the Opposition. “Some of these people have no shame in lying and manipulating information. In a post on X, he has asked whether Rahul Gandhi met two Chinese ministers during the journey, who arranged the alleged meetings and what was discussed. Singh then targeted the Congress over Operation Blue Star, alleging that the party was trying to rewrite the history of the army operation at the Golden Temple and the violence that followed.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has separately raised questions about Rahul Gandhi’s 2018 Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and the Congress’s contacts with the communist power in China. He also sought details of people purportedly sent to China under an exchange programme following a 2008 agreement between the Congress and the communist neighbour. Since Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love , came out yesterday, the ruling party has revived its criticism of Pitroda over his remarks on the 1984 anti-Sikh violence after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Pitroda said their rivals have been using photographs of Congress leaders with random people abroad to suggest associations that did not exist. There is no pressure, no money and no advice from abroad,” Pitroda, who leads the party’s foreign outreach unit Indian Overseas Congress, told reporters. BJP national spokesperson RP Singh referred to Pitroda’s widely criticised “hua toh hua” remark and accused the Congress leadership of refusing to offer the Sikh community an unconditional apology. He said the killings could not be treated as an administrative failure and cited former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s statement that “when a big tree falls, the Earth shakes”. He said “crocodile tears cannot wash away the bloodstains of 1984”.
