Chhatarpur (MP), Apr 23: BJP chief Amit Shah Tuesday said the party's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur was framed in false cases by those who had coined the term "Hindu terror" and indulged in vote bank politics.
He defended her candidature and called it an "absolutely right decision".
Thakur is in the eye of a storm for controversial statements that her "curse" led to former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare's death in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and that she was proud to have participated in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Thakur is out on bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
"A Hindu can never be a terrorist. They have fabricated false cases to frame her. It was a conspiracy for vote bank politics," Shah said, while addressing a rally at Rajnagar in Chhatarpur district.
Defending her candidature, Shah said, "The allegations against her are false and the real culprits in the Malegaon blast case have evaded the law. It (fielding her) is absolutely a right decision. The allegations against her are baseless. Nothing against her has been proved."
Lashing out at the Congress' Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Digvijaya Singh for coining the term "Hindu terror", Shah said it was done with an eye on a particular vote bank.
"I have come to tell the people of Madhya Pradesh that (in) our culture, our people even feed ants. A Hindu can't be a terrorist.
"This (Malegaon blast case against Thakur) was a fake case made out by the Congress. In the Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid blast cases judgements, it was clearly mentioned no such meeting took place. There was no such conspiracy," he claimed.
"I want to ask Diggi Raja (Digvijay Singh) today that you have said saffron terror exists. Hindu terror exists. We have fought the court battle and got acquitted. The verdict had come that no Hindu terror existed. It was a conspiracy and now I want to seek a reply from Congressmen on why they left those who had carried out the blast on the Samjhauta Express," Shah said.
He said the Congress had "defamed our culture".
Speaking on Jammu and Kashmir, Shah slammed National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for talking about having a separate prime minister for the northern state.
"Is it possible to have two prime ministers in the country? I want to ask Rahul Gandhi and Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh chief minister) whether they support Omar on the issue," Shah said.
He also lashed out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for seeking proof of the February 26 air strike in which Air Force jets pounded a terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan.
The BJP's Lok Sabha candidates from Khajuraho and Tikamgarh (SC) seats V D Sharma and Union minister Virendra Kumar Khatik respectively were present at the rally.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Jaipur, Mar 28: Young Riyan Parag showed why he is considered a precocious talent as he struck a stunning 84 not out off 45 balls to set up a 12-run win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Capitals in their IPL match here on Thursday.
Sent in to bat, RR were reduced to 36 for 3 in the eighth over but the 22-year-old Parag single-handedly took the home side to 185 for 5 with a magnificent unbeaten knock studded with seven fours and six sixes.
Parag, who was promoted to number 4 by the team management this season and made 43 in the previous match, took 25 runs off veteran South African pacer Anrich Nortje with scores of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1 in the final over to hit his highest T20 score.
Chasing 186 for a win, DC could only manage 173 for 5 in 20 overs though South African youngster Tristan Stubbs (44 not out off 23 balls) kept them in the hunt till the final over from which they needed 17 runs.
Avesh Khan conceded just four runs to help RR win their second consecutive match.
South African pacer Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets apiece to also contribute in the RR win.
"Definitely disappointed. The best thing to do from here is to learn from it. The bowlers did well through the 15-16 overs. But the batters did well at the death, hopefully we do better in the next game," DC skipper Rishabh Pant said.
DC were reduced to 34 for 2 in the fourth over with Burger taking two wickets in three balls in a fine display of fast bowling.
Burger, who was brought in as Impact Sub for Shimron Hetmyer, dismissed opener Mitchell Marsh (23 off 12 balls) and Ricky Bhui (0) in the fourth over.
DC captain Rishabh Pant came out to bat at the fall of Bhui's wicket and along with senior batter David Warner built the innings without taking too much risk. Delhi were 89 for 2 at the halfway stage.
Warner was the more aggressive one as he got the boundaries to keep DC in the hunt. The senior Australian batter fell one run short of his fifty courtesy a brilliant diving catch by Sandeep Sharma off the bowling of Avesh in the 12th over.
Warner and Pant were involved in a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket.
Playing in his 100th IPL match and 14 months after a horrible car crash, Pant tried to build the innings with occasional boundaries. But he got out for a 26-ball 28 as Chahal induced a faint lower edge for Sanju Samson to do the rest behind the stumps in the 14th over.
The asking rate shot up to more than 13 runs an over and DC needed 66 from the last five overs.
Stubbs kept DC in the game with two consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17th over, but in the end the Delhi side were short by 12 runs.
They needed 34 runs from the final two overs which they could not get. It was DC's second consecutive loss.
Earlier, Parag shared 54 and 52 runs respectively with Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Dhruv Jurel (20) after RR made a shaky start.
Royals captain Samson struck three consecutive boundaries in the fourth over bowled by pacer Mukesh Kumar before nicking a Khaleel Ahmed delivery two overs later to Pant to get out for 15.
RR were 30 for 2 by then as Mukesh had given DC their first breakthrough with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal (5).
The Royals were in more trouble after wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav literally forced his captain Pant to take a review, which later proved to be successful, to dismiss Englishman Jos Buttler for an LBW decision.
Ashwin came out to bat at number five and he lofted a Kuldeep delivery for a six to help RR reach 58 for 3 at halfway stage. He gave Nortje even a harsher treatment with two sixes in the next over that yielded 15 runs.
Ashwin, however, holed out to Tristan Stubbs near the boundary ropes for a 19-ball 29.
Parag then made his presence felt, striking two boundaries and a six off Ahmed to take RR past 100 in the 15th over.