BJP Bhopal candidate files papers amid piety

Bhopal: BJP’s Hindutva face Sadhvi Pragya Thakur on Monday filed her nomination for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat amid the chanting of shlokas by 11 priests.

Clad in flowing saffron robes, wheelchair-borne she observed fasting and performed a special puja before proceeding to the district collector’s office to file her nomination.

She submitted one set of nomination forms to the Bhopal district collector Sudam Khade, who is also district election office (DEO), amid chanting of ‘mantras’ by eleven young priests outside the DEO’s office.

“She was supposed to file nomination on Tuesday. But, she had to advance her schedule to file papers by a day because the ‘auspicious’ moment for the purpose was found on Monday afternoon.

She will proceed to the DEO’s office to file the remaining two sets of nomination forms in a roadshow on Tuesday”, a spokesman of the BJP here said.

Forty-eight-year-old Thakur had observed dawn-to-dusk fasting and ‘moun vrat’ (vow of silence) on the occasion.

Incidentally, her rival and Congress candidate for Bhopal, Digvijay Singh had also performed a special puja and taken blessings of his  had spiritual guru, Sharada Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swarupanand Saraswati before filing his nomination here on April 19.

The Shankaracharya was seen presenting a fruit to Mr Singh, who is known for his strong anti-RSS stand, when he touched his feet for blessings.

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