Pressure mounted on the Congress party for a rethink on the candidatures of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar,whose names figured in connection with 1984 anti-Sikh riots,with sections within the party said to be against their nomination. Congress party Sonia Gandhi,who has been away for electioneering,is expected to discuss the issue with senior party leaders on her return in the wake of the shoe-throwing incident at the Union Home Minister P Chidamabarm's press conference in the AICC headquarters yesterday which has brought renewed focus on the issue. Officially,the party said "let's wait and see" to questions whether the party would do a rethink on their candidatures. Party Spokesperson Jayanti Natrajan said she could not add to what has already been said by other spokesmen like Janardhan Dwivedi and Ashwini Kumar that an appropriate decision would be taken at the appropriate time. Asked whether morality or winnability was important,she said "both are important." However,the sections within the party in Delhi and Punjab have voiced their reservations to the party high command about the advisability of fielding the two leaders in the Lok Sabha elections in view of the fact that there is resentment among the Sikh community over their alleged role in the riots. Chidambaram felt that it was for the party to decide whether to give ticket or not to someone but a person cannot be pronounced either guilty or innocent without due process of law. Tytler,who has been given a clean chit by the CBI,sought to question the controversy surrounding his nomination saying "why should there be reconsideration just because CBI has given me a clean chit." He said the action of the journalist,who threw the shoe at Chidambaram,was instigated by Akalis. On Friday a local Delhi court is to decide on the CBI report seeking to close the investigation against Tytler and the decision on his candidature could be influenced by what the court says.
