Fuel for fire: Huffington Post removes Sonia Gandhi from rich list

Yesterday _Firstpost_ did a story based on a_Huffington Post_ list of the richest leaders in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi figuredon the 12th slot, surprisingly ahead of Queen Elizabeth of Britain and Albert II, Prince of Monaco.

We had argued that HuffPost’s list, however, does not, clearly state how it has arrived at the conclusion, while Gandhi’s declared assets to the Election Commissioner in 2009 is just Rs 1.38 crore.

The HuffPost article drew angry reactions from both rivals and supporters of the Congress.

[caption id=“attachment_1225267” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Reuters[/caption]

“If Huffington Post would stick to huffing and puffing then I think they would do a much better job for themselves. Because if you do put out these absurd and ridiculous things out in print, then you only open yourself to be made a laughing stock. I would not even like to dignify with a response,“ Congress leader Manish Tewari said.

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Adding fuel to the fire, this morning, Huffington Post has removed Sonia Gandhi from the rich list saying that the editors have been unable to verify Gandhi’s wealth amount.

In an editor’s note, HuffPost wrote: “Sonia Gandhi and the former emir of Qatar Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani have been removed from this list. Gandhi was originally included based on a listing on a third party site which was subsequently called into question. Our editors have been unable to verify the amount, removed the link, and regret any confusion. Qatar’s emir was succeeded by his son Tamim in 2013.”

Bad sourcing of data? Shoddy reporting? Probably yes, butTwitterrati in India, as usual, is angry. Stretching their imagination beyond the limits, they ask: Was _HuffPost_forced to take down Gandhi’s name?