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Amarinder names 5 Cong leaders; SAD asks where's Tytler's name

New Delhi: Even as he continued to deny Congress' role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday named few party leaders who were allegedly involved in the massacre following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi in the same year.

While addressing the media, Singh reiterated party chief Rahul Gandhi's views that the Congress, as a party, was never involved in the riots. "There was no Congress involvement other than the involvement of some people. I have named few of them – Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri, Arjun Das and two others," Singh was quoted as saying by news agency.

Immediately upping the ante against the CM for denying the party's role and yet disclosing the names of five persons, except Congress leader Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the incident, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "He(Singh) took five names but he has a soft corner for Tytler. So, he did not take his name."

Tytler was given a clean chit thrice by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case. The clean chit has been contested in a Delhi court.

The SAD chief also asserted that the CM must write to the Supreme Court as the main witness in the case. "He (Singh) should write to the Supreme Court that he is the main witness in the case," he said.

A political slugfest has erupted ever since Rahul Gandhi said the Congress was not involved in the massacre of Sikhs following Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984. "I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don't agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy," he had said during an interaction with UK-based Parliamentarians and local leaders in London on Friday.

"I think any violence done against anybody is wrong. There are legal processes ongoing in India, but as far as I'm concerned, anything done that was wrong during that period should be punished and I would support that 100 per cent," he added.

In an immediate response, SAD accused the Congress chief of rubbing salt into the wounds of the Sikh community. Party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said Rahul had "justified the lynch mentality of the Gandhi family by shamelessly denying the Congress party's role in the organized massacre of Sikhs in 1984 and had by this act become a 'bhagidaar' in this most inhuman and dastardly act".

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