BJP’s Muslim leader in Bhopal won’t campaign for Sadhvi Pragya Thakur

Fatima Rasool Siddique, who was the BJP's lone Muslim candidate in the last year's Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, said some of the statements given by Thakur were "communal and obnoxious".

sadhvi pragya, sadhvi pragya singh thakur, sadhvi pragya malegaon blast, sadhvi pragya elections, sadhvi pragya bhopal, sadhvi pragya bhopal elections, Fatima Rasool Siddique, hemant karkare, election news, elections 2019, lok sabha elections 2019

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur at BJP headquarters in Bhopal. (Source: PTI/File)

Exempting herself from campaigning for BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Bhopal, party leader Fatima Rasool Siddique said that the controversial leader’s statements are polarising and have not gone down well with her and her community.

Fatima Rasool Siddique, who was the BJP’s lone Muslim candidate in the last year’s Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, said some of the statements given by Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case of 2008, after her candidature was announced, were “communal and obnoxious”.

“I won’t campaign for her as she has made statements like waging a `dharm yudh’ (crusade). Her controversial statement against former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, a martyr who laid down his life fighting terrorists in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has also hurt me badly,” the 35-year-old told PTI.

Follow more election news here

Story continues below this ad

She also said that Pragya’s statements have tarnished the image of BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

“Her statements have damaged the image of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has good connect with Muslims,” said Siddiqui. Chouhan is a strong votary of `Ganga Jamuna Tehzeeb’ (secular culture), she added.

Siddiqui had joined the BJP on November 8 last year and hours later she was nominated the party’s candidate from the Bhopal North assembly constituency. Though a fairly good number of Muslim women campaigned for Siddique, she lost by 34,857 votes to Congress candidate Arif Aqueel.

(With inputs from PTI)

The police said the trio from Chandigarh — Rohan (21), Sumit (22), and Mohit (19) — were dhol players by profession and had procured the weapons due to an old rivalry with local residents.

Suspecting affair, Odisha lecturer assaults wife and her friend, parades them on street

India2 hr ago

A lecturer of Commerce and his associate were arrested for assaulting his wife, garlanding her with slippers and parading her on the road with her male friend. The woman, who has been living separately from her husband, was assaulted and humiliated in public. The incident was recorded and shared on social media. Police have seized evidence and are investigating the matter.

View all shorts

Live Blog