Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who is undergoing trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, joined the BJP on Wednesday and will be contesting form the Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency.
She will be facing senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh in Bhopal.
“I will contest the election from Bhopal and win. Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is with me,” Sadhvi Pragya had said after joining the BJP earlier on Wednesday.
Sadhvi Pragya, who got the Bhopal ticket instead of incumbent city MP Alok Sanjar, had recently said that she was ready for a dharma yuddh (religious war).
“Hum tayar hain. Ab ussi karya mein lag gayi hun (I am ready. I have started working towards it),” she told _ANI a_fter her candidature was announced.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP on her candidature from Bhopal, MP in #LokSabhaElections2019 : Hum tayar hain, ab ussi karya mein lag gayi hun. pic.twitter.com/16PE5OcVSG
— ANI (@ANI) April 17, 2019
Sadhvi Pragya, who has been associated with the Sangh Parivar and has worked with its student and women’s wings, was an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case . She was given a clean chit by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), but the trial court refused to discharge her from the case. She is now being tried under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and is out on bail since 2017.
The choice of the BJP for The candidate in Bhopal is indeed immpeccable . Sadhvi Pragya is the perfect prosonification of sangh parivar’s thoughts and actions. Wah ! Wah !! Wah !!!
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) April 17, 2019
Imagine the anger if I’d field a terror accused. Channels would’ve gone berserk by now trending a mehboobaterrorist hashtag! According to these guys terror has no religion when it comes to saffron fanatics but otherwise all Muslims are terrorists. Guilty until proven innocent https://t.co/ymTumxgty7
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 17, 2019
Surprised about #SadhviPragya joining BJP ?
— Tehseen Poonawalla Official 🇮🇳 (@tehseenp) April 17, 2019
BJP has always given terrorists tickets like those who broke down the Babri Masjid ..
In fact had BJP been formed in '48- they would have given a ticket to Nathuram Godse!
Even Hafiz Saeed contested just like #SadhviPragya will here
Latest addition to our scintillating list of MP contestants: a potential terrorist.. Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya.. BJP absolutely naked in its agenda of hate and divisiveness.. https://t.co/q5pD9NUi27
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) April 17, 2019
The Bhopal Lok Sabha seat has been held by the BJP since 1989, where 25 percent of the voters are Muslim. The Bhopal constituency is spread over eight Assembly segments — Berasia, Bhopal Uttar, Narela, Bhopal South-West (Bhopal Dakshin-Paschim), Bhopal Central (Bhopal Madhya), Govindpura, Huzur and Sehore.
The 29 Lok Sabha constituencies of Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in four phases on 29 April, and 6, 12 and 19 May. The counting of votes will be done on 23 May.
With inputs from agencies
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