Congress withdraws Tytler, Sajjan from poll fray
source: NDTV.com: General Elections 2009: Congress withdraws Tytler, Sajjan from poll fray&
Congress withdraws Tytler, Sajjan from poll fray
Press Trust of India
Thursday, April 09, 2009 (New Delhi)
A worried Congress on Thursday withdrew its controversial leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the electoral fray as the ghost of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots returned to haunt the party over their alleged role in the carnage.
"Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have expressed their sentiments that they do not wish to embarrass the party by contesting Lok Sabha elections when 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 of the Indian National Congress," party General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters shortly after Tytler announced his decision to opt out of the race.
The Congress decision comes amid a raging controversy over fielding the two leaders, whose names figured as accused in the 1984 riots, accentuated by the incident of throwing of shoe by a Sikh journalist at Home Minister P Chidambaram at AICC press conference on Tuesday.
The journalist said he was protesting against the clean chit given by CBI to Tytler in the riots case, an issue on which the agency today told a local court here that it had no jurisdiction to go into. The case has been deferred till April 28.
