NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sajjan Kumar resigned from the primary membership of the party a day after he was convicted in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
“I tender my resignation with immediate effect from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress in the wake of the judgment of the high court of Delhi against me,” Sajjan said in his letter to party chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday.
The move came a day after the Delhi leader was sentenced to imprisonment for life for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The court order embarrassed the party which had earlier denied a ticket to him in the Delhi state polls.
An aide of Kumar said he did not want the party to face any embarrassment and decided to resign from Congress soon after the Delhi High Court pronounced its judgement in the case.
The aide also clarified that 73-year-old Kumar, a three-time MP, does not have a Twitter account and comments attributed to him in the social media platform were not made by him.
The riots had broken out in the aftermath of the assassination of late prime minister Indira Gandhi at the hands of two of her Sikh bodyguards. Kumar was accused of instigating the crowds during the riots.
The case in which Kumar was convicted relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984.
According to official accounts, 2,733 Sikhs were killed between November 1 and 4, 1984 following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards on October 31.
Kumar is known to have a sizeable support base in Outer Delhi areas, including villages and slum clusters.