While targeting Sadhvi Pragya, P C Chacko hails Yasin Malik’s ‘courage’

New Delhi, Apr 27: While taking pot-shots at BJP's Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya, Congress leader P C Chacko on Saturday said separatist leader Yasin Malik should be 'appreciated' for the 'courage' he has shown in front of the government.

Speaking to ANI Chacko said, "If Pragya Singh Thakur, a convicted person, an accused person, can contest an election, and in the name of separatism, Delhi is asking him (Yasin Malik) at gunpoint to surrender, anyone with self respect will react the way Yasin Malik did."

"Even though we do not support Yasin Malik's ideology or actions, the courage he has shown is something which should be appreciated because New Delhi cannot threaten anybody, India is a democracy."

BJP inducted the Malegaon accused into the party and announced that Sadhvi Pragya will contest from the Bhopal constituency of Madhya Pradesh against Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh.

Thakur is among seven accused facing trial in Malegaon blast case, in which six people were killed and a dozen others were injured when a bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded in Maharashtra's Malegaon on September 29, 2008.

Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of the then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990.