Sheila seeks cancellation of Pragya Thakur’s candidature

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 17

DPCC president Sheila Dikshit has demanded the Election Commission to cancel the candidature of BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Pragya Thakur.

Expressing her strong disapproval at the remarks by Thakur, who termed Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse a "patriot", Dikshit said such a person not only unfit to contest the Parliamentary election, but also unfit to be part of a civil society.

She said it was a matter of great shame that the BJP leader, who called herself a "sadhvi" and was an accused in the murder and conspiracy of the bomb blasts in Malegaon (Maharashtra) in 2008, had not been condemned by any top leader of the BJP for her deplorable statement.

Dikshit said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had claimed to follow the non-violent path shown by Mahatma Gandhi, had refused to comment on the statement of Prayga Thakur. She said it has now been established that the Modi government had unleashed a war to besmirch the image of the freedom fighters and historic personalities of the country.

She said the BJP had taken an avowed decision after careful consideration to discredit the heroic personalities connected with the Congress party.