Fielding Pragya Thakur is assault on democracy: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar has slammed the BJP for fielding Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur from the Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, saying that such a decision was an assault on democracy. How could an accused be given the ticket despite an investigation being underway, he questioned.

“A person facing serious charges got elected from Madhya Pradesh and is in power. She has several cases against her, including the Malegaon blast case, murder of a BJP worker named Joshi, and others. It is not good for a political party to offer a ticket to such a person,” Mr Pawar said.

Addressing an event on the 20th anniversary of the NCP, he said, “The session of Parliament will begin soon. Members of both the houses will attend the joint address of the President. There will be a large number of those believing in the saffron ideology, too, attending it. And there are people who have serious cases against them. They too will attend the President’s address in the Parliament.” The NCP chief also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming that he tried to divide the country along religious lines during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

“It is not right to use power to spread religious ideology. But the rulers today don't think on those lines. The PM sat inside a cave wearing saffron attire,” he said.