Pragya Thakur's co-accused condemns Karkare remarks, but to back poll bid
Pune, Apr 21: A co-accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case Sunday denounced BJP Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur's comments against former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare but added that he would still campaign for her to defeat the Congress' Digvijaya Singh there.
Sameer Kulkarni, a Malegaon blast accused out on bail currently, addressed a press conference here and stressed that no one had the right to make such remarks against Karkare who laid down his life fighting terrorists.
"Not only Sadhvi (Thakur), no one has the right to make such remarks. Because making such remarks against bravehearts is sheer ingratitude towards their supreme sacrifices," Kulkarni said.
However, taking a stand supporting Thakur, he added, "While in custody for several years in the blast case, we, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, were subjected to unlimited torture. It is possible Sadhvi made that statement out of anguish."
"However, realising her mistake, she apologised," he said, adding that her statement should not be politicised.
Informing that he would be campaigning for Thakur in Bhopal, Kulkarni said, "Sadhvi is not a politician but she is fighting against adharma. She is fighting against Digvijaya Singh and to defeat Singh, we would go there (to campaign)," he said.
He accused the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party of being "anti-Hindu" and said the two parties had made them (blast accused) "scapegoats" in 2008.
"The NCP and Congress came to power on the basis of majority Hindu votes. Senior leaders Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Digvijaya Singh and NCP president Sharad Pawar have taken an anti-Hindu stand from time to time," Kulkarni alleged.
"The Congress and NCP created a fake narrative about Hindu terrorism and put several innocent Hindus behind bars by implicating them in false cases. But it was because of the judiciary and a few honest police officers that several people like us got bail," he said.
Kulkarni got bail in the Malegaon blast case in 2017.
Thakur, an accused in the case who is out on bail, is under fire for saying that Karkare died in the 26/11 terror attack because she had cursed him for `torturing' her when he probed the Malegaon blast as chief of the ATS.
Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from here in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
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SP has ended contract with I-PAC due to fund constraints: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said his party has severed its association with the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) due to a lack of funds.
He dismissed speculations that the termination of contract was because of recent election results.
Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said the party had engaged I-PAC for a brief period ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections but could not continue the arrangement.
"Yes, we had an association. They worked with us for a few months, but we are not able to continue because we do not have that kind of funding," he said.
The I-PAC is a political consultancy firm known for managing major election campaigns across the country.
Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has also been associated with the organisation in the past and has worked with multiple parties, including the BJP and the Congress.
In a lighter vein, Yadav took a swipe at the ecosystem of political consultancies. "We thought that if we have to work with a 'winning agency', then there are several big companies."
He said that some people suggested conducting surveys, hiring another firm, keeping a social media company, and even engaging agencies for negative campaigning against other parties.
"There are one or two more companies whose names are not yet known. I can get those for you as well," Yadav said.
Yadav rejected the suggestion that the decision to end the deal was influenced by recent election outcomes in states such as West Bengal.
"There is no such thing. Do not ask questions based on baseless reports. That is not true," he said.
"This is not the reason for ending the agreement. We simply do not have enough funds. If you (the media) give us funds, we can hire another company," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
