Pragya Singh Thakur's oath taking sparks ruckus in Lok Sabha

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, a two-time former chief minister, was defeated by a margin of 3,64,822 votes by the terror-accused BJP nominee Pragya Singh Thakur from the prestigious Bhopal seat in Madhya Pradesh.

BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur

New Delhi: Sadhvi Pragya Thakur who handed Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh a big defeat in Bhopal in the recent Lok Sabha elections on Monday took oath as a member of the 17th Lok Sabha. The BJP MP's oath sparked a ruckus as Congress MPs objected to she using her spiritual name and the name of her guru in the prefix prompting Protem Speaker Virendra Kumar to take cognizance and get her election affidavit verified. Thakur had to take oath for the second time after the commotion. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, a two-time former chief minister, was defeated by a margin of 3,64,822 votes by the terror-accused BJP nominee Pragya Singh Thakur from the prestigious Bhopal seat in Madhya Pradesh. Pragya, now out on bail, is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast that killed six people. All throughout the elections, Pragya had been making contentious remarks triggering immediate denunciations from Opposition parties. Calling Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a "deshbhakt" (patriot) forced the BJP to condemn her statement and asked her to tender a public apology. During the course of nationa polls, the Election Commission had to bar Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition. The panel strongly condemned her remarks and warned her not to repeat the misconduct in future.