BJP MP Lekhi backs Pragya Thakur's nomination in defence ministry panel

BJP lawmaker from New Delhi Meenakshi Lekhi on Thursday endorsed the nomination of her fellow parliamentarian Pragya Singh Thakur in the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence.

"You cannot call anyone a culprit on the basis of an accusation. Congress had tortured her and levelled allegations against her. UAPA charges were imposed on her. To prevent all this from happening in the future, her presence in the committee is necessary," Lekhi told ANI.

The chairman of the committee is Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Thakur is one of the accused in the Malegaon blasts case. She was granted bail by the Bombay High court on health grounds in April 2017 after charges against her under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act were dropped by the National Investigation Agency.

Thakur fought the Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and defeated Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.

She has been in the news over her controversial statements, including the one in which she had called Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a 'patriot'.

Apart from Thakur, NC leader Farooq Abdullah, BJP's Chhedi Paswan, NCP leaders Supriya Sule and her father Sharad Pawar and BJP working president JP Nadda have also been nominated to the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee.