The Congress may have backed former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh over his remarks on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, but an influential section within the party felt that the controversy could have been avoided during polls.

A senior party leader said that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots continued to strike an emotional chord with the community which was evident when hundreds of Sikhs, including Akali Dal leaders from Delhi, laid siege of the party headquarters to protest against Singh’s statement. Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, had told a TV channel that he had heard names of other Congress leaders from victims of the anti-Sikh riots, but not of Jagdish Tytler.

He added that Tytler’s name in the 1984 riots came up only when he was contesting elections against BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana in Delhi, months after the tragic incident.