Congress MP objects to ‘highly slanderous’ allegations by BJP’s Sambit Patra against Rahul Gandhi

Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Thursday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take action against the Bharatiya Janata Party's Sambit Patra for allegedly using "highly slanderous language" against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi at a media interaction, ANI reported.

In a letter to Birla, Tagore said that such behaviour “not only tarnishes the image of the esteemed Parliament but also insults the dignity of a high constitutional office”.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Patra called Gandhi a “traitor of the highest order”, and reiterated his party’s allegation that he was conspiring with billionaire George Soros to destabilise India.

Patra referred to a report by French media outlet Mediapart which alleged that investigative media platform Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, or OCCRP, hid the extent of its links with the United States government.

The report quoted Drew Sullivan, the co-founder of OCCRP, as saying in 2023 that it was “mostly true” that his organisation did not “do stories on US […] in the early years”, as the United States government and Soros’ Open Society Foundations paid for its budget.

However, Sullivan told Mediapart that OCCRP can now use funds from outside the United States for investigations pertaining to that country.

On Thursday, Patra, referring to the Mediapart report, alleged that “a dangerous triangle...

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