The Congress on Wednesday took a swipe at the government over the nomination of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri for the Rajya Sabha bypoll, saying it is so subservient to the US that it is still "shamelessly" promoting a man with links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The BJP central election committee approved Puri's name for the bypoll from Madhya Pradesh. Puri, 74, currently serves as the Union minister of petroleum and natural gas. His term as Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh is set to be over on November 25.
The Rajya Sabha bypoll in Madhya Pradesh to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former Union minister L Murugan will take place on November 12.
Reacting to the nomination, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said the Modi government is so "subservient to Washington" that it is still "shamelessly" promoting a man whose links to convicted child sex offender and child trafficker Epstein warrant an independent investigation -- not a Rajya Sabha seat or a ministerial berth.
"Hardeep Puri has been missing in action as India grapples with an energy shock. No leadership, no reassurance - just one fuel price hike after another. He seemed prepared to fade into political oblivion. But then his big brothers in America stepped in to prolong his career and his services to them, and Modi had to relent," Khera alleged.
"Epstein, energy crisis and economic pain. That is Hardeep Puri's lasting legacy, irrespective of how many terms Modi gives him under American pressure," he said on X.
"A government that bows to America and a minister who fails to deliver for India. Modi's double-engine failure in plain sight," Khera said.
Last week, the Congress launched a scathing attack on the government over a purported photograph of Puri with Epstein, with party leader Rahul Gandhi asking which "anti-national traitor" the US is "blackmailing".
Several leaders and X users had shared an undated photograph, purportedly showing Puri with the late American sex offender. The photograph was reportedly released by the US Department of Justice.
Since earlier this year, the Congress has been demanding Puri's resignation on grounds that his name figures in the "Epstein files" released in the US. Puri has, in the past, denied the charges levelled at him by the opposition party