A day after being reinstated as the chief of the Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda on Thursday reacted to Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s claim that the former had assured the leadership that he would not leave room for controversy, saying it was not the party’s view.
Sam Pitroda, who was forced to resign on May 8 due to the political storm triggered by a series of controversial comments amid the Lok Sabha elections, said what Jairam Ramesh said was “Jairam’s” opinion, not the party’s stand on the matter.
Sam Pitroda, a confidant close to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, said he has the right to make mistakes.
“Congress is not saying that. Jairam is saying that. What Jairam is saying is Jairam’s opinion, it is not necessarily the opinion of the party. It is okay for Jairam to say that and I respect that. I have to do what I have to do. In the process I have the right to make mistakes,” he told NDTV.
Before the Lok Sabha elections, Sam Pitroda had triggered a huge political controversy with his comment on inheritance tax in the United States. The BJP latched on to Pitroda’s comment, claiming that the Congress wanted to snatch away the people’s hard-earned wealth.
Also read: Sam Pitroda returns: BJP calls out hypocrisy after Congress’ ‘no controversy’ promise
Pitroda told the channel that he was not proposing the inheritance tax when he made this remark.
He also explained his comment in which he had said that those from the northeast look like the Chinese.
“The next time I said something about… my way of saying how diverse we are, people thought it was racial,” she said.
He said there was nothing racial about saying “we come from Africa.”
Also read: Sam Pitroda’s re-election means Congress backs his ‘nasty’ comments: BJP
After Sam Pitroda’s reinstatement, Jairam Ramesh said he was appointed with the assurance that he would leave no room for such controversies in the future.
“During the recent election campaign, Sam Pitroda had made some statements and comments that were unacceptable to the Indian National Congress. By mutual agreement, he resigned as President of the Overseas Indian Congress. He subsequently clarified the context in which the statements were made. and how they were then distorted by Modi’s campaign,” Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
“The President of Congress has reappointed him with the assurance that he will not allow such controversies to arise in the future,” he added.
The BJP reacted sharply to the Congress move, saying that removing Pitroda was an electoral gimmick.
