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Sikhs will vote against Congress: Babbar

The All India Shiromani Akali Dal (Babbar) today claimed that Sonia Gandhi's apology and the denial of Congress tickets to party leaders H K L Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar will not bring the Sikh voters back to the party's fold.

''Despite the apology and denial of tickets to all those facing court cases in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases, the Sikhs will vote against the Congress in the Lok Sabha election,'' party president Gurcharan Singh Babbar told the media. ''Only a statement or such a move will not be enough to heal the wound caused by the Congress 13 years ago.''

Babbar called upon all Sikhs to vote for the BJP or any other party which was in a position to defeat the Congress candidate in their respective constituency.

If the assassins of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi could be sentenced to death, why cannot the same justice be done to the Sikhs by punishing all those responsible for the well-organised 1984 carnage, he asked.

He said the Congress was only trying to mislead the Sikhs by denying tickets to these leaders. ''The Sikhs, however, will never vote for the Congress,'' he said.

EARLIER REPORTS:
Tytler, Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar denied tickets
Sonia says sorry to Sikhs for Bluestar, 1984 riots
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