‘Never intended to hurt PM with Godse remark’: Pragya Thakur after being denied ticket

BJP MP Pragya Thakur, who has been denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha polls, on Monday (March 4) said she is aware that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is displeased with her over her remarks on Nathuram Godse in the past and that she has already apologised for the same.

While wishing luck to Alok Sharma, who replaces her in the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, Thakur said that she never asked for a ticket and will follow what the party high command instructs.

In its first list of candidates announced on Saturday (March 2), the BJP replaced Thakur with Sharma, a former mayor, in the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat.

It is being speculated that Thakur was denied a ticket mostly because of her habit of making controversial and foot-in-mouth statements that has left the party embarrassed, not once, but multiple times.

In one such statement, Thakur in 2019 had called Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, a “patriot” in a bid to attack the Congress.

While the BJP had asked her to issue an apology, the remark had drawn the ire of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had said that he will never forgive people who have insulted “Bapu”.

“The remarks made about Gandhiji or Nathuram Godse are very bad and very wrong for society. She has sought an apology but I would never be able to forgive her fully,” Modi had told a news channel.

Alluding to the incident, Thakur on Monday hinted that she was possibly denied a ticket for her remarks.

“I have never made a controversial remark. I have always told the truth. We should develop a habit of telling the truth in politics. I am also a saint. Media calls my remarks controversial, but the people accept I tell the truth. My remarks were used by the Opposition to attack the party,” she was quoted as saying.

"I did not seek a ticket before, and I am not seeking one now. The use of certain words in my previous statements might not have pleased Prime Minister Modi, and he had expressed that I wouldn't be forgiven. However, I had already apologised to him earlier," she said.

Thakur’s Godse remark came after the Congress called him a “terrorist”

Asked if she will support Sharma, Thakur said he has her best wishes.

“My best wishes are with Alok Sharma, who is contesting from Bhopal this time. This time we will cross 400 seats,” she said.

Thakur, an accused in Malegaon blast case, secured victory over Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh in the 2019 elections by a margin of 3.65 lakh votes.