New Delhi: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri is facing renewed demands for resignation from the opposition after his past email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein were raised in Parliament.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi brought up the issue during his speech in the House on Wednesday, questioning the minister’s association with Epstein and seeking an explanation from the government.
While the allegation was made inside Parliament, Puri chose to respond outside the House on the same day. Addressing a press conference at the party office, he strongly rejected the charges and criticised the opposition leader’s remarks, calling them “Buffoonery”.
On Thursday, Puri appeared in several television interviews where he denied any wrongdoing. However, he acknowledged that he had met Epstein in the past, maintaining that there was nothing improper about the interaction.
Meanwhile, references to Puri’s name have appeared in records linked to the Epstein Library maintained by the United States Department of Justice. A search reportedly shows dozens of entries connected to variations of his name, including “Hardeep Puri” and “Hardeep Singh Puri”.
At the press conference, Puri attempted to downplay the controversy by making a light remark about a conversation with a fellow Member of Parliament. He said the MP had told him that “many of these people are jealous,” adding that if anything inappropriate had occurred, he would have spoken about it, but insisted that nothing of that sort happened.
The controversy has added to political tension in Parliament, with opposition parties pressing for accountability, while the minister has maintained his innocence and rejected calls for resignation.
