BJP reprimands three Delhi MPs for visiting residence of anti-Sikh riot convict Sajjan Kumar

NEW DELHI: BJP president Nitin Nabin Saturday reprimanded three Delhi MPs - Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Yogender Chandolia and Kamaljeet Sehrawat - for visiting the residence of anti-Sikh riot convict Sajjan Kumar, who died Aug 20, to pay their condolences. The move comes amid the party's preparations for the Punjab assembly elections. Kumar was a serving life sentence in two cases for his role in the 1984 riots and died of illness at 80 years of age. BJP sources said the three MPs were summoned to meet Nabin. "It was a transgression. And they were conveyed so," a source said. The three MPs represent in Lok Sabha a part of Delhi where the residual influence of Kumar, who was an MP from erstwhile outer Delhi, remains. This might have prompted them to pay their condolences in person, even though BJP has been unsparing in its attack on Kumar for his role in the 1984 riots and the party's govt at Centre has worked for ensuring justice for victims, blaming earlier Congress govts of deliberately hampering probe and trial due to its association with a key accused like Kumar.

Advocate H S Phoolka, who has fought cases for riot victims for decades and is in BJP, demanded that these MPs be boycotted for visiting the residence of the "mass murderer". "This comes when BJP has always supported our quest for justice against this culprit and supported us in ensuring that he stays in jail. Sympathy should be reserved for victims and their families - many of whom live the horror of those days even till now," he said. He also lauded Nabin for chiding the three MPs and upholding the party's decades-long stand. BJP had recently criticised Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda for his tribute to Kumar, but the visit by their MPs gave political rivals, including Punjab's governing party AAP, an opportunity to target the party over the issue.