Election Commission should cancel Pragya's candidature from Bhopal: Sheila Dikshit

Congress veteran and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit Friday demanded that the Election Commission "cancel" Pragya Singh Thakur's candidature from Bhopal for calling Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse a "patriot".      

Dikshit alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah had "handpicked" Thakur as a party Lok Sabha candidate and said they should also be held "morally accountable" for her "highly condemnable statement".    

Prime Minister Modi on Friday said he will never forgive Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin Nathuram Godse a  patriot.    

"The Election Commission should cancel the candidature of BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Pragya Thakur for terming Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse as a patriot," Dikshit, who contested the Lok Sabha elections from the North East Delhi seat, said.     

"Modi and Shah should have withdrawn her candidature themselves for her toxic statement," she said in a statement.  Dikshit also said it was shameful that Thakur despite her "deplorable statement" was not "condemned" by any top leader of the BJP.   

"Such a person not only does not deserve to contest the parliamentary election, but she is also unfit to be part of a civil society," said the Delhi Congress president.   

During a roadshow in Madhya Pradesh's Agar town, Thakur had said Godse was a patriot and will remain a patriot.   

BJP president Amit Shah Friday came out strongly against the controversial remarks of his party leaders, including Pragya Singh Thakur, over Nathuram Godse, saying the BJP has taken serious note of their statements, which are against its ideology.   

Shah has asked the party's disciplinary committee to submit a report on the issue in 10 days for further action.     

The BJP chief also said these comments were their personal statements and had no link with the party.    

As campaigning for the 2019 general elections ended on Friday, the BJP was pushed to corner and forced to ask three of its leaders to explain their comments on Godse.