Pragya Thakur tenders 2 apologises
New Delhi : An unrelenting Opposition forced BJP's Pragya Thakur, under flak for haling Nathuram Godse, to apologise in Lok Sabha for a second time on Friday after rejecting her first apology as "conditional" in which she also attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for calling her a "terrorist".
Tendering her second apology in Lok Sabha following a meeting Speaker Om Birla held with floor leaders of all parties, the Bhopal MP said,"On November 27, during discussion on SPG (Amendment) Bill, I did not call Nathuram Godse a patriot (desh bhakt), I did not even take his name.
Still if someone is hurt, I express my regret and apologise." Before she entered the House, the Speaker had said that Thakur would read out the statement agreed upon at the meeting of leaders of different parties. She began her statement by referring to her enemies but was interrupted by the Speaker.
She then read out the statement as decided upon earlier, paving the way for normal business to resume. Her first apology was panned by Opposition parties for its reference to other issues, as they insisted on an unconditional apology.
Thakur had created a row on Wednesday with her remark in the Lower House during DMK member A Raja's narration of a statement by Godse before a court on why he killed Gandhi.
The BJP swung to control the damage on Thursday with disciplinary action as it sacked her from a consultative committee on defence, and also barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting during the ongoing session.
The Congress led the opposition charge against her with Gandhi accusing her of being a "terrorist" and claiming that her comments represented the "heart and soul" of the saffron party and its ideological mentor RSS.
Though the House had functioned on Thursday after senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh said his party condemns any philosophy which describes Gandhi's killer as a patriot.
Pragya Thakur moves breach of privilege notice against Rahul
BJP MP Pragya Thakur on Friday submitted a breach of privilege notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for calling her a "terrorist".
Thakur accused the Congress MP of breaching her privilege as a parliamentarian by calling her a "terrorist" even though there is no court conviction against her and sought action against him from the Speaker.
Official sources said the Lok Sabha secretariat will examine the merit of her complaint before recommending to the Speaker whether to admit her notice and send it to the privilege committee of the House or reject it.
Gandhi had called her a "terrorist" on Twitter following her praise of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin. He stood by his comments on Friday.
Congress MLA threatens to burn alive Pragya; apologises
An MLA of the ruling Congress in MP apologised a day after he threatened to burn alive Pragya Thakur following her calling Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a 'deshbhakt'.
Even as Thakur drew flak from all political quarters, MLA Govardhan Dangi said on Thursday, "We criticised her...not only burnt her effigy but if she comes here we will burn her too." However, he apologised on Friday for his controversial remark, saying it was a mistake.
The Congress MLA from Biaora in Rajgarh district said he firmly believed in the Gandhian principle of non-violence.
After staging a protest in Biaora, about 115km from Bhopal, on Thursday against Thakur's comment in the Lok Sabha, Dangi said, "Nothing can be more disgusting than praising Mahatma Gandhi's assassin." And then, he made the controversial remark threatening Thakur.