MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Congress Saturday lashed out at BJP for giving a Lok Sabha ticket to Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and claimed if Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi's assassin was alive, the ruling party would have fielded him as well.
Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case who is out on bail, is under fire for saying then Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Karkare died in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because she had cursed him for `torturing' her when he probed the Malegaon blast as chief of the ATS.
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, "The BJP is shamelessly supporting the candidature of a person who is accused of terrorism and anti-national activities. The BJP's star campaigners, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who are asking votes on the sacrifices of soldiers, did not feel the need to apologise to the nation (post her comments)," he said.
He hit out at BJP for not removing Thakur despite the furore following her comments against Karkare, adding that it showed the BJP "supported" terrorism.
"After uproar from across the country, Thakur has apologised. The BJP is trying to save itself by saying it is her personal opinion. But the BJP cannot be absolved of its sins until Thakur is removed from the party and Modi apologises," he said.
"Help is provided to Thakur in court and almost no action against Sanatan shows the BJP's ideology. Looking at this, if Nathuram Godse was alive, the BJP would have given him candidature as well. In future, the BJP would field killers of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh as well," Sawant claimed.