New Delhi, June 13 (IANS): By appointing Kamal Nath in charge of the partys affairs in Punjab ahead of the assembly polls, due next year, the Congress is rewarding him for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said on Monday.

"The Congress is rewarding Kamal Nath for obeying (then Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi's orders during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi," AAP leader and eminent lawyer H.S. Phoolka said here at a press conference.

Violence against Sikhs broke out in Delhi after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her Sikh bodyguards.

"How can they give Kamal Nath a clean chit when his name has cropped up again and again in connection with violence against Sikhs in 1984," Phoolka said, citing newspaper reports and the Nanavati Commission findings.

"Reports show that Kamal Nath was present outside Gurudwara Rakab Ganj as part of the mob. What was he doing there? If he had come to protect the Gurudwara why did he not help the distressed Sikhs who were burnt alive and three of them were crying for medical aid?" Phoolka said.

Congress leader Kamal Nath, on his part, has maintained that he has been absolved of "all charges" by the Nanavati Commission.