Sadhvi Pragya breaks 'silence' to express happiness over poll trend

BJPs Bhopal Lok Sabha seat candidate Pragya Singh Thakur, who recently kicked up a row with some of her remarks and was observing silence for 63 hours as a mark of penance, Thursday broke the vow to express her elation over poll trends which showed her in the lead.

Thakur expressed happiness over the Lok Sabha poll trends which showed her ahead of her nearest Congress rival Digvijay Singh by over 90,000 votes. "I am happy with the people's response," she told reporters at her home and waved to people and her supporters who were chanting "Jai Shri Ram". A beaming Thakur was seen waving to the supporters.

Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Monday apologised for the controversial remarks and set out to observe silence to do some "soul searching". She had last week lauded Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse as a "patriot", sparking furious debate in the last lap of the seven-phase elections.

The Congress alleged that "insulting martyrs is in the DNA" of the BJP, which also condemned her remarks. She also earlier said that she had "cursed" 26/11 attack martyr, IPS officer Hemant Karkare, for torturing her and falsely implicating her in the blast case. Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week said he will never forgive Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi.

-PTI