The BJP has demanded the withdrawal of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the poll fray for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
While the incident of a journalist hurling a shoe at home minister P Chidambaram evoked mixed reactions from various Congress leaders, the BJP demanded withdrawal of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the poll fray.
Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily was cautious and said that the matter would have to be examined, as "its too early to react on it," when asked whether the party would press charges against Jarnail Singh, the journalist who hurled a shoe at Chidambaram.
On the other hand, his party colleague and Union minister Kapil Sibal said that "journalists take upon themselves and express their political inclinations in this form. I can say that journalists are themselves not performing the duties that they are supposed to perform".
BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh told a press conference that his party "demands that both Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler should be withdrawn from elections".
He added that BJP condemns any incident which is uncivilised and goes against the basic ethos of India.
However Singh said that "Congress should learn from this incident that there is anger in the Punjabi community. The way the CBI has been used by the Congress to free Tytler.... it looks like that this anger will grow".
Senior BJP leader Balbir Punj though described the incident as "uncivilised" and condemned it. He said at the same time that "it should act like an eye opener for Congress because it shows as to what extent the Sikh community is angry over the gross injustice handed over to them for the last 25 years.... while more than 4,000 people were killed only 12 odd persons have been booked while all the big fish have been let off".
Another Congress leader Tom Vadakkan however chose to adopt a more lenient approach towards the journalist and the incident.
"It was regrettable, we don't intend to politicise the issue. The home minister has been on record that he has forgiven him (the journalist) on this. The Congress party's position remains the same. We forgive him for the act, it was an emotional outburst and we rest the case on this," he said.
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