Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar on Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the party citing his conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. In a letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the former Member of Parliament said his resignation should be accepted with immediate effect, AICC sources said.
“I tender my resignation with immediate effect from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress in the wake of the judgment of the honourable High Court of Delhi against me,” Kumar said in the letter to Rahul on Monday.
The Delhi High Court on Monday sentenced Kumar to imprisonment for life, the first conviction of a politician in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were killed.
An aide of Kumar said he does not want the party to face any embarrassment and that is why decided to resign from the primary membership of the Congress soon after the Delhi High Court pronounced its judgment in the case.
The aide clarified the 73-year-old three-time MP does not have a Twitter account and comments attributed to him in the social media platform were not made by him.
When asked for his reaction on the issue, Rahul skirted a question on Kumar and also about the apology demanded by the BJP from him after Kumar’s conviction by the Delhi High Court a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. “My position on the riots, I have made it very clear before. That is absolutely clear, the issue is very simple,” Rahul parried the queries from the media outside Parliament.
