‘Do not wish to embarrass the party by contesting the Lok Sabha elections’.
Under pressure from public outrage, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today backtracked and withdrew the Lok Sabha poll tickets of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar — widely believed as instigators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
After holding a series of meetings with top party leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Oscar Fernandes (general secretary in-charge of Delhi), Gandhi decided to withdraw the nominations of Tytler and Sajjan Kumar after the party leadership announced that both want to “opt out” of the coming general elections.
Tytler was to contest from the newly-created North-East Delhi seat, whereas Kumar was the party’s candidate from the prestigious South Delhi constituency.
While Delhi Congress chief J P Agarwal emerges as the front runner to replace Tytler, Kumar is pitching for his son to contest the South Delhi seat.
“Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have expressed their sentiments that they do not wish to embarrass the party by contesting the election as some political parties and individuals have tried to vitiate the atmosphere. They have opted out of Lok Sabha elections. The party has accepted their feelings and decided that they will not be Lok Sabha candidates,” party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters this evening.
On Wednesday, Gandhi held a late night meeting with a few senior leaders at her residence to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, the Punjab state Congress unit had sent a fax message to the Congress president expressing its apprehension that if Tytler and Kumar were fielded, the party might suffer a serious setback in the state. This time, the Congress party is expecting to win at least 10 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab out of 13.
With most of the senior leaders expressing their opinion against Tytler and Kumar’s candidature, Gandhi had virtually made up her mind last night but waited for the court’s decision on the CBI’s affidavit on Tytler.
As Tytler and Kumar were informed by the emissaries about the mood of the party high command, Tytler quickly held a press conference at his residence to make his position clear. “My heart says a lot of embarrassment has been caused to the party. I don’t think I should fight,” Tytler said. He said he has left the decision to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to decide whether he should contest in view of the “vicious campaign” launched by the BJP and Akali Dal and the “atmosphere” created by the media.
Gandhi’s decision came after angry Sikh protestors today held demonstrations in front of the court. The controversy over the candidature of Tytler was renewed when a Sikh journalist — protesting against the clean chit given by the CBI to Tytler in the 1984 riots case — threw his shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram at a press conference last Tuesday.
