New Delhi, January 18: A political controversy erupted after 1984 anti-Sikh riots case accused Jagdish Tytler attended the event where Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit took charge as the chief of the party's Delhi unit on Wednesday. However, Sheila Dikshit on Friday came out in support of Jagdish Tytler and said as a Congressman he has every right to attend a party event.

Speaking to a news channel, Dikshit backed Tytler saying he hasn't been charged for anything in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. "There is no controversy at all. Has he been charged for anything? Has he gone to jail? He hasn't left the party. He hasn't been chucked out of the Congress. He came there like any other Congressman. So why is everybody making an issue out of it, I don't understand," she said.

Replying to political opponents who accused the Congress of "again rubbing salt into the wounds of Sikhs", Dikshit said they were trying to weave a controversy around Tytler's attendance. "Perhaps they didn't have anything negative to write about that meeting so they picked this up as something important," the three-time Chief Minister of Delhi said.

Tytler, a senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, was seen sitting in the front row at the programme. He was an accused in a case related to the anti-Sikh riots which followed assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. He had also said that the charges against him have not been proved.

"You also mention my name. Why? Is there an FIR? Is there a case? No? Then why do you take my name? Someone said that and you believed it," he had told reporters.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 18, 2019 10:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).