Union minister Hardeep Puri vs Shashi Tharoor over meeting George Soros

Amid the political controversy surrounding Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday responded sharply to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s claim.

Shashi Tharoor had mentioned meeting George Soros at Hardeep Singh Puri’s New York residence while Puri was serving as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Puri said he organised a dinner on October 12, 2009. However, he added that the invitees’ list came from Tharoor, as the latter had spent “considerable time” in New York, while he himself was “new” to the city.

“(Tharoor) had arrived in New York as MoS External Affairs shortly after I was posted as India’s Ambassador & Permanent Representative at UN. I hosted him and his companion at a briefing breakfast on 11 October 2009, and then for dinner on the evening of 12 October 2009.” the Union minister wrote on X.

He added, “I noticed the name of Mr Soros in the list and I clearly remember bringing it up with the then Minister, who had also met him in May 2009 and even tweeted about it. That is the only time in my life I met Mr. Soros.”

Puri also said he called up the Congress member after the latter’s December 15 post to remind him of the “context” of the meeting mentioned in the social media post.

“Normally he is very prompt, but this time he didn’t take my call,” Puri stated the unanswered call to Tharoor.

“In retrospect, the name (Soros) was included was included because the gentleman in question was among the benefactors of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, and the Minister of State was keen to meet him,” he concluded.