Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is greeted by BJP National Vice President Prabhat Jha after her name was finalised as the party candidate for Bhopal constituency, at BJP at the Madhya Pradesh BJP headquarters in Bhopal, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (PTI Photo) Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is greeted by BJP National Vice President Prabhat Jha after her name was finalised as the party candidate for Bhopal constituency, at BJP at the Madhya Pradesh BJP headquarters in Bhopal, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (PTI Photo)

Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday after a meeting with senior BJP leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Ramlal, and Prabhat Jha in Bhopal. “I have formally joined BJP, I will contest elections and will win also,” Thakur told ANI.

Sadhvi will contest from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat after former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Chouhan and Uma Bharti declined to contest from the constituency. She will take on Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh.

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Thakur, one of the accused in the 2008 blast case, is currently out on bail.

On December 27, 2017, a special NIA court had dropped stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act charges against Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, Sameer Kulkarni and other accused in the blast case.

Six persons were killed and 101 were injured when an improvised explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off at Malegaon on September 29, 2008.

Meanwhile, Digvijaya Singh welcomed Sadhvi to Bhopal, saying that he hopes she likes the calm, educated and sophisticated ambience of the city.

मैं साध्वी प्रज्ञा जी का भोपाल में स्वागत करता हूँ। आशा करता हूँ कि इस रमणीय शहर का शांत, शिक्षित और सभ्य वातावरण आपको पसंद आएगा।

मैं माँ नर्मदा से साध्वी जी के लिए प्रार्थना करता हूँ और नर्मदा जी से आशीर्वाद माँगता हूँ कि हम सब सत्य, अहिंसा और धर्म की राह पर चल सकें।

नर्मदे हर! pic.twitter.com/LYAbpTObgY — digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) April 17, 2019

Read | Who is Sadhvi Pragya?

Among other candidates, K P Yadav will be the BJP nominee from Guna, which is held by senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who is contesting again from here.

The BJP has named Raj Bahadur Singh and Ramakant Bhargav as its nominees from Sagar and Vidisha respectively.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had won from Vidisha in 2014 but she had announced that she will not fight polls this time due to health reasons.

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