BJP removes Pragya from defence panel

New Delhi: Amidst a raging row over its MP Pragya Thakur's Godse remark in Lok Sabha, the BJP on Thursday barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting and removed her from the consultative committee on defence, even as the Congress stepped up its attack over the issue with its leader Rahul Gandhi asserting that her comment reflected the "heart and soul" of the saffron party and the RSS.

Thakur triggered the controversy on Wednesday with her remark in the Lower House of Parliament during DMK member A Raja's narration of a statement by Nathuram Godse before a court on why he killed Mahatma Gandhi. Her remark was expunged by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Cracking the whip on its serial-offender, the BJP barred Thakur from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing Parliament session and removed her from the consultative committee on defence.

"The statement given by MP Pragya Thakur is condemnable. BJP never supports such statement and we do not support this ideology," BJP working president J P Nadda said while announcing disciplinary action against Thakur.

The Congress, however, dismissed the action as "too little too late" and asked why the BJP was not expelling her from the party.

Later, speaking to reporters in Parliament premises, Gandhi said, "What Pragya Thakur is saying is the heart of the BJP and the RSS. That is the centre of the BJP, that is the heart of the RSS. This cannot be hidden. It is their soul and it will come out somehow. No matter how much that they worship Gandhiji, this is their soul."

The issue reverberated in Parliament as well with the Opposition strongly taking up the issue in Lok Sabha.