GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 21st Dec. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday denied Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s allegations that Tharoor had insisted on including billionaire George Soros in the guest list for a 2009 dinner in the United States.
Responding to the claims, Tharoor stated that his recollection of the event differed from Puri’s. He clarified that he had no knowledge of Soros’s connection to any Indian foundation at the time and had never discussed it with him. “All I remember hearing from him at that occasion was his strong objection to our government’s stand on the West’s responsibility for global warming,” Tharoor wrote on X.
The controversy surfaced on December 15 when a BJP supporter on X highlighted Tharoor’s 2009 post where he mentioned meeting Soros and described him as “a concerned world citizen.”
On Friday, Puri responded, claiming Tharoor had submitted the invitee list for the dinner hosted at Puri’s residence during his tenure as Indian Ambassador to the US. Puri alleged that Soros was included because he was a benefactor of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, and Tharoor, then Minister of State for External Affairs, was eager to meet him.
Puri added that Soros’s presence made sense in hindsight given his association with the foundation. However, Tharoor dismissed these assertions, emphasizing his limited engagement with Soros at the event.
The exchange has sparked political discourse, with BJP supporters pointing to Soros’s controversial remarks on Indian politics earlier this year and the Congress party distancing itself from the billionaire financier.
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