Sam Pitroda reappointed as overseas Congress chief after 'assurance' to not indulge in controversies

The party announced the reappointment in a statement on Wednesday and, later in the evening, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the decision was taken after Pitroda assured him that he would not "leave room for such controversies to arise" in the future.

In a post on X, Ramesh said, "During the recent election campaign Sam Pitroda had made some statements and comments that were totally unacceptable to the Indian National Congress. By mutual consent he stepped down as Chairman of Overseas Indian Congress."

"Subsequently he clarified the context in which statements were made and how they were later distorted by the Modi campaign. The Congress President has reappointed him on the assurance that he will not in future leave room for such controversies to arise," he said.

Towards the end of April, when the first phase of the elections was over and the Congress was fending off a charge, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that its manifesto had spoken of wealth redistribution, Pitroda had added fuel to the fire by speaking about an inheritance tax.

Criticising the Prime Minister for claiming that the party's manifesto spoke of snatching gold and women's mangalsutras (a sacred ornament in Hinduism symbolising that a woman is married), Pitroda, while speaking to ANI, ended up talking about the inheritance tax.

"In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is grabbed by the government. That's an interesting law. It says you in your generation, made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair," he had said.

After creating a political storm with his 'diverse country' remarks, Sam Pitroda on May 8 resigned from his post amid the mammoth seven-phase Lok Sabha election.

In another controversial remark, Pitroda had also classified Indians and their looks regionally inviting jibes from the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the election season.

Speaking to The Statesman, Pitroda had said, "... diverse country... where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arab, people on North look like maybe White and people in the South look like Africa."

His comments were heavily criticised by the BJP leaders including PM Modi who attacked Rahul Gandhi, saying the country "won't tolerate disrespect based on the colour of skin".