Sadhvi Pragya Breaks Down After Meeting Uma Bharti in Bhopal, Says They Will ‘Always be Together’

Bhopal: BJP Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Uma Bharti posed for a happy union in Bhopal on Monday and denied any mutual disagreement or resentment.

The ‘cordial’ meet came after the senior BJP leader asked people on Saturday not compare her Thakur, chosen by the party to take on Congress's Digvijaya Singh in Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency.

Asked if Thakur was her political successor in state BJP, Bharti had said: “Voh toh mahan sant hain … main murkh, tuchh prani hun (Pragya is a great saint, I am foolish and ordinary).” Her statement had triggered speculations that the union minister wasn’t happy with the rise of Thakur in Madhya Pradesh.

As Bharti landed in Bhopal, Thakur went to her residence and the two embraced each other happily. Bharti greeted the Bhopal candidate with sweets, tilak and flowers, and both denied having any rift and called it a media stunt.

As Thakur prepared to leave, Bharti came out of residence to see her off and bowed down, leading to Thakur bursting into tears. Bharti held her with affection and comforted her.

After the meeting, Bharti said Thakur was on a much higher platform spiritually and called her custodial torture “a great sacrifice”. She also coined a new term, Didi Maa, for Thakur.

It was Bharti who had openly backed Thakur during her arrest in 2008 in connection with the Malegaon blasts and had even offered her ticket from Bharatiya Janshakti Party, a breakaway faction of the BJP led by Bharti.

“I have been a former MP in Bhopal and she is contesting the Lok Sabha polls now so don’t link the meeting as ruthna-manana (sulking and appeasement),” Bharti told the media.

I am personally happy with her candidature, said Bharti, calling Thakur an exceptional saint.

Thakur, too, denied reports that Bharti was upset with her and said that saints are always connected with each other at heart and there is never any aguish or confusion between them. “Politics goes on but we are always together,” she said.

However, senior political analyst Girija Shankar claimed that the meeting was Thakur’s attempt to minimise the damage she feared Bharti would have caused to her poll campaign. But people close to Thakur claimed her emotional outburst was a result of the constant memories of her custodial ordeal.