Two days after he threw his hat in the ring, former MP and senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler withdrew his nomination from the North East Delhi primary.
“Mr. Tytler conveyed his decision to withdraw from the North East Lok Sabha seat primary to AICC general secretary and Delhi in-charge Shakeel Ahmed and Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh on Thursday,” a statement from the Pradesh Congress Committee said.
Sources in the party, however, said Mr. Tytler withdrew after the party leadership convinced him to do so.
His candidature was withdrawn by the party during the last Lok Sabha polls due to protests over his alleged role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
However, Mr. Tytler had said after filing his nomination that he had been given a clean chit by the court in the complaints filed against him and had decided to enter the primaries to “strengthen the vision of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to let the workers decide a popular candidate for the party”.
Party sources said it would have become embarrassing had Mr. Tytler, by any chance, emerged victorious in the primary.
“The legal position in the case is one facet of the entire issue. He might cite legal proceedings, but the bigger problem is the perception built around him about his alleged role in the riots. Moreover, several important developments have taken place over the past few months, including Mr. Gandhi’s statement on involvement of party workers in the riots. The party would not like to reignite the issue at this stage,” said a Congress leader.