Congress condemns MP Pragya Thakur's inclusion in Ministry of Defence committee

New Delhi: Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala took jibes at the Modi government for nominating Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the parliamentary consultative committee of the Ministry of Defence. As the development was made public, Randeep Surjewala took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving defence responsibility to a blast accused.

In a public statement, he said, "It can be called the country's misfortune that a blast accused MP has been made a member in a defence committee. PM Modi could not forgive her from his heart but gave her a responsibility as important as the security of the country. That is why it is possible if Modi is there."

Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya was nominated to the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee headed by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is one of the accused in Malegaon blast case, which killed six people dead and injured more than 100 on September 29, 2008. The NIA rejected her plea for exemption in June earlier this year.

Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anantkumar Hegde took to Twitter to retort to the Congress spokesperson's statement. He said that the Congress party has a "rich tradition of rewarding the criminals consistently for their crimes".

Defending the move to include MP Sadhvi Pragya in the defence committee, the Union Minister said the Bhopal MP was not convicted in the Malegaon blast case. He further added that the allegations on Sadhvi Pragya were made by the Congress "thugs" who have been in or out of jail.

In a scathing tweet, Minister Anantkumar Hegde wrote: "Why is this guy cribbing? #INCIndia has a rich tradition of rewarding criminals consistently for their crimes! @SadhviPragya_MP is NOT convicted yet & the allegations have been fabricated by the same thug party's leaders who are in jail / out on bail!"

The 21-member Parliamentary Consultative Committee includes opposition leaders TMC's Sougata Roy, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and DMK's A Raja. Sadhvi Pragya had courted controversy with her remarks on a number of occasions. One such instance was when she the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi - Nathuram Godse a patriot. She was handed a show-cause notice by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over her remarks.