Phoolka to be honored for efforts to ensure justice to anti-Sikh riots victims

Union minister and senior BJP leader Vijay Goel will felicitate former AAP member H S Phoolka, who recently quit the party, for fighting the legal battle for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, sources said Sunday. Phoolka has met Goel twice, including on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader's birthday on January 4, since quitting the AAP early last week. Goel called Phoolka a "good friend" and lauded his legal battle for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. "He quit AAP recently. (It is) better late than never," Goel said.

The sources said Goel will felicitate Phoolka later this week. Phoolka had also met the BJP leader before resigning from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday. Phoolka has avoided giving any reason for quitting the AAP and expressed his desire to float a non-political outfit in Punjab to fight the drug menace and the perceived politicisation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). He, however, was averse to an alliance between the AAP and the Congress.

Reports about a pre-poll tie-up between the two parties is doing the rounds, with none of them denying it officially. The sources claimed Phoolka was also annoyed over the AAP's stand on the demand to strip former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi of the Bharat Ratna for "justifying" the anti-Sikh riots.

(With inputs from agencies.)