Facing trial, Pragya on House defence panel

New Delhi, November 21

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Controversial BJP MP Pragya Thakur, accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, has been appointed to a parliamentary committee on defence, triggering a political row with the Congress on Thursday attacking the government for nominating a person charged with “spreading terror” to a panel tasked with defence-related issues.

The BJP, however, defended her nomination to a 21-member joint consultative committee headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Three-time CM of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, who is detained in Srinagar under the Public Safety Act (PSA), NCP leader Sharad Pawar and BJP working president JP Nadda are among the other members. The panel has 12 members from LS and nine from the RS. Pragya, an accused in Malegaon case, is out on bail. She is facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Congress termed it “unfortunate” for the country that an MP accused of “spreading terror” was nominated as member of a defence-related committee. — PTI

BJP’s contention

The Bhopal MP can help ‘frame the right methodology’ so that innocents are not ‘victimised’ the way she was by UPA govt