New Delhi: Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday hit out at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri over his defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with allegations surrounding the so-called ‘Epstein Files’.

“The PM has never met Mr. Epstein?” How are you so sure @HardeepSPuri? Were you their intermediary? Were you the gatekeeper of Epstein for BJP leaders? And ‘Mr.’ Epstein. Really? A monster of the kind that Epstein was is worthy of respect and titles for you? God bless your morals and ‘maryaada’. You are a shame to India,” Khera wrote in X.

The sharp exchange comes after Puri refuted allegations made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi regarding the ‘Epstein Files’, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “no connection” with them and that the claims are “baseless”.

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Speaking to ANI, Hardeep Puri said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) made some very serious charges. He says that because of a number of factors, Epstein was mentioned as one of them, the PM is not able to safeguard the country's interests. There are hardly any references to the PM. The Prime Minister has never met Mr Epstein. The PM has never interacted with Mr Epstein. MEA has issued a clear-cut statement trashing what is in the Epstein Files.

"PM has nothing to do with it. He doesn't appear anywhere in Epstein Files, except in the LoP's fertile imagination and those nutcases who provide him with inputs and get him into trouble periodically. Then you come to an industrialist that his name is there and why has he not been arrested? That man is under investigation for acts of omission or commission committed in India. What has the Epstein Files got to do with it?" he added.

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Further clarifying his own interactions, Puri said he met Epstein four times over nine years.

"He told me your name is in interesting places. I had sent him a note clarifying that between 2009, when I went to New York, and 2017, I met Epstein a total of 4 times. Four times in 9 years, I was a member of the IPI appointed to see if the UN is fit for purpose on its 75th anniversary. I had no independent meetings with Epstein. The allegations against Epstein are about sexual favour, they are about paedophilia, about other wrongdoings...I have nothing to do with that," Puri added.

When asked if he would take action against Rahul Gandhi over the allegations, Puri responded, "Let's not judge what I am going to do."

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Defending the Prime Minister, he said, "PM is not under pressure. I worked with the PM. This is my 9th year. The PM is uniquely positioned not to have a brain which is wired to feel the pressure. He is calm at all points in time. Many of us work 18 hours a day; he works even more. He is constantly working, thinking, and sprinting in order to transform the country. I think the young leader is not able to stomach it, and that is why he comes and makes statements in Parliament and then runs away from the situation," he added.

The controversy follows remarks by Rahul Gandhi, who claimed he possessed verified information linking names to the US Department of Justice files.

"I have said that I will authenticate the data I have. There are Department of Justice files on Epstein files naming Hardeep Puri and Anil Ambani," Gandhi told reporters at Parliament premises.