'Shoe incident exploited by section of leaders in Delhi Cong'

Jagdish Tytler, whose Lok Sabha poll nomination was withdrawn by the Congress, has said that a section of leaders in the party's Delhi unit had exploited the 'shoe incident' to keep him away from the electoral fray.

"I have a very strong gut feeling on how all this came about. It is not the work of Akalis only. Akalis took help of some people from our party who probably did not want me," he told a television channel.

Asked whether he was referring to Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Tytler said he would not like to name anybody.

"Probably, I was getting too big for my boots in my own party," he said, adding that he was referring to the Delhi Congress and not the national level.

On whether Dikshit had become stronger in the party after her third consecutive term as chief minister, Tytler merely said "I really thought in my mind. I said well, she has come to stay long."

Tytler said he would not like to have a fight with Dikshit as her son Sandeep Dikshit was contesting elections.

"I would not like to fight with her because her son has been fighting from the interior. So, I did not want to give a wrong signal," he said.

Congress had on Thursday withdrawn Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the electoral fray as the ghost of the 1984 riots returned to haunt the party over their alleged role in the carnage.