Congress says Sam Pitroda will ‘leave no room for controversies’, BJP calls out ‘hypocrisy’ | Latest news India

The Congress on Wednesday reinstated Sam Pitroda as president of the Overseas Indian Congress, weeks after he resigned from the post after embarrassing his party with his controversial remarks during the Lok Sabha elections. While the Congress leadership assured that Pitroda would not leave room for controversies in future, the Bharatiya Janata Party reacted sharply to the development saying his resignation was an election stunt.

The BJP claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had predicted that the Congress would reinstate Sam Pitroda after the elections.

“As Prime Minister Modi predicted, the sacking of Sam Pitroda by the Congress was just an election ploy. He has now been reinstated as President of the Overseas Indian Congress, exposing the hypocrisy of the Congress party and its leaders,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said. ) said on X.

Sam Pitroda, a close confidant of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, resigned from his post on May 8 after making a series of controversial remarks that gave the BJP ammunition to attack the Congress.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said Sam Pitroda had explained to the party leadership the background of his statements.

“During the recent election campaign, Sam Pitroda made statements and comments unacceptable to the Indian National Congress. By mutual consent, he resigned as president of the Overseas Indian Congress. Subsequently, he clarified the context in which these statements were made and how they were distorted by the Modi campaign. The Congress president reappointed him assuring him that he would not allow such controversies to arise in future,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Also read: Sam Pitroda sparks row with remark ‘people from the East look like Chinese’, BJP reacts

Sam Pitroda had sparked a huge controversy by saying that those who live in the eastern part of India are like the Chinese.

“We survived for 70 to 75 years, in a very happy environment where people could live together, leaving aside a few fights here and there. We could maintain the unity of a country as diverse as India, where people people from the East look like Chinese. “People from the West look like Arabs, people from the North maybe look like white people, and people from the South look like Africans. It doesn’t matter, we are all brothers and sisters,” Pitroda said in a podcast.

The BJP had called the remark “racist and divisive”.

Before the remark, Pitroda’s reference to inheritance tax in the US, while discussing the Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, had made headlines, with the BJP accusing the party of planning a redistribution of wealth masses.

After Pitroda’s resignation, Prime Minister Modi had said in an interview that the Congress would bring back its “US-based” guru after a few days.

With contributions from PTI, ANI