Campaign blocked by administration, alleges Pragya Thakur; collector denies

BHOPAL: A day after her remark on martyr

Hemant Karkare

triggered a political firestorm, BJP’s

Bhopal

candidate Sadhvi Pragya Bharti accused the district administration of trying to stop her roadshows in the city. Collector Sudam Khade denied this, saying she hadn’t sought permission for any campaign.

BJP claimed Pragya was scheduled to campaign in the

saffron

strongholds of Govindpura and Narela segments, but all her programmes were “cancelled because she didn’t get permission”. She had to be content with addressing a few party meetings, it said, accusing the district administration of working under the pressure of Congress government.

“Congress is afraid of Sadhvi Pragya due and is using the state machinery against her. She is BJP’s candidate for Bhopal. There are barely 20 days left to polls, yet she is not getting permission to campaign. BJP will not succumb to any sort of pressure,” BJP leader Hitesh Vajpayee said.

Collector Sudam Khade said there was no request from Sadhvi Pragya to carry out “any road show, rally or campaign”. “So, there is no question of denying her permission. She has sought permission for using vehicles in the campaign, which has been given to her,” he added.

Pragya was scheduled to start her campaign from Rohit Nagar early in the morning but the hours ticked by and she didn’t arrive. BJP workers started alleging that the administration didn’t allow her to campaign.

BJP MLA from Govindpura Krishna Gaur said: “We could only do door-to-door campaigning in Rohit Nagar and Shakti Nagar. But it was not a full-fledged campaign with dhols and all because we didn’t have permission.” Pragya met voters in these two localities and asked for votes “for respect for bhagwa (saffron) and dharma”. Sadhvi Pragya also visited Sant Hirdaram Kutiya in Bairagarh and the ancient Gufa Mandir before addressing party workers in Narela in the evening.