Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit took charge as the president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) in presence of a large gathering of workers and senior party leaders on Wednesday. However, the celebrations were marred as controversy erupted over the presence of Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, at the event.

Dikshit backed Tytler saying he was a Congressman and hit back at the BJP and the AAP charging them of having a narrow view of looking at things. Dikshit’s comment came after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa objected at the presence of Tytler at an event where she took over as its Delhi unit president.

Sirsa said the Congress made Jagdish Tytler sit in the front row. It was a deliberate act to intimidate the witnesses in the anti-Sikh riots cases, he alleged.

“The Congress wants to send a message to the witnesses that the party high command supports Tytler and nobody should even try to testify against him,” Sirsa alleged.

“Since the conviction of Sajjan Kumar, the party is afraid... That the leaders whom it kept safe are now being jailed. By such acts, it is also sending a message to the judiciary and police that nobody should initiate action against them,” he alleged.

The AAP alleged that the incident exposed Congress’s anti-Sikh face and demanded that the party leaders clear their stand on Tytler.

Three new working presidents — Devender Yadav, Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia — also took charge along with Dikshit. The enthused workers greeted the former Delhi CM as she reached office at DDU Marg with slogans and drum beats. Chants like “Sheila Dikshit Ayi Hai, Badlaw Ki Andhi Layi Hai” “(Sheila Dikshit has come with a storm of change) were heard.

With Dikshit at the helm of affairs, the party is looking to revive its fortunes in the national capital after a series of poll debacles starting with losing of power in 2013.

Addressing party workers, Dikshit appealed to work together to strengthen the hands Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. “Our target is to reach out to the people at every nook and corner of Delhi to ensure the victory of the Congress party at all the seven parliamentary seats in the city.

Dikshit said the Congress workers will reach out to the people in Delhi to tell them about the achievements of the Congress party and the failures of the BJP at the Centre and the in all three municipal corporations and the AAP Government in Delhi. She also said that the Congress Government believed in delivering instead of making hollow promises like other parties to fool the people.

The outgoing DPCC president Ajay Maken passed a resolution thanking Congress president Rahul Gandhi for making Sheila Dikshit president of the party’s Delhi unit. He said that her contribution to the development of the city is un-paralleled and her experience in leading us as a former DPCC president will only enrich the Congress party in Delhi.

Dikshit (80) was appointed to the post by the party’s national president Rahul Gandhi after Ajay Maken stepped down citing health troubles. She first became the president of the DPCC in 1998. She led the party to power in Delhi later in the year and became Chief Minister of Delhi for 15 consecutive years, spread over three terms, when Delhi witnessed a massive change over with amazing development works.

Senior Congress leaders Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Meira Kumar, PC Chacko, Sandip Dikshit and Ajay Maken were among those present as Dikshit took charge.