Jalandhar: Accusing both BJP and Congress of patronising those who nurture hatred against minorities, the Dal Khalsa said if the saffron party has the likes of Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi, the grand old party has Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in its folds.

Holding the Congress leadership responsible for the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in a joint statement here Dal Khalsa President H S Dhami and its secretary Kanwarpal Singh said the resentment among Sikhs over the candidature of Tytler and Kumar, known for their role in the riots, is justified.

With a line-up of such leaders representing two major national parties the Sikhs indeed feel caught between the devil and deep sea, they said.

They appealed to the Sikhs to evolve a strategy to defeat all such candidates regardless of their party affiliations in the coming Lok Sabha polls.