What does it take to get an election ticket? … A bomb blast!

Article taken from HT epaper

Uma Bharati’s Bharatiya Janshakti Party (BJS) has offered a ticket to sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur; arrested in connection with Malegaon blast, for the forthcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. The state goes to the polls on November 27. The party would offer Thakur a ticket, if she was willing, national secretary Inder Prajapat told Hindustan Times.

Thakur’s lawyer Deepak Rawal had approached the party for a ticket, and they were waiting for Thakur to give her consent, he said. “If she wishes, the party will field her from any seat in Madhya Pradesh against any powerful leader of the BJP,” Prajapat said. Defending Thakur, who is the prime accused in the September 29 blast, Prajapat attributed political motives to her arrest and claimed she was innocent.

“We hope that people’s court will ultimately acquit her in the case,” he said. The party had also offered legal aid to Thakur; Prajapat said. Party chief Uma Bharati has termed the arrest as a conspiracy and demanded a highlevel probe into it. Thakur will remain in the custody of the Maharashtra anti-terrorist squad till November 3. Article by Manoj Ahuja