Bhagwat faced threat from outfit behind Malegaon blasts: Cong

Congress today claimed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat faced threat to his life from the outfit which was initially linked to the 2008 Malegaon blasts and that he was apprised about the matter by then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

"Martyred ATS officer Hemant Karkare had met Mohan Bhagwat after the 2008 bomb blasts (in Malegaon) and warned him about threat to his life from the extremist organisation that carried out the blasts. After his warning, Bhagwat's security was stepped up," AICC General Secretary Mohan Prakash said at a press conference here.

Right-wing activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was associated with this group, he alleged. Prakash did not name the outfit.

Last week, the NIA dropped all charges against Sadhvi and five other accused in the case, saying sufficient evidence has not been found for their prosecution.

If RSS was a nationalist organisation, Bhagwat should come forward and make public the discussion he had with Karkare, who was killed during 26/11 attacks, Prakash said.

BJP patriarch L K Advani, who had led a delegation to meet then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was also provided with all the details of the case. After this, Advani, who had defended Sadhvi, did not seek her release from jail, he said.

"Advaniji had led a delegation to the then Prime Minister demanding Sadhvi's release from jail. He was given full details of her role in the blasts. After that, he never demanded her release. Will Advaniji have the courtesy to speak the truth now in front of people," he asked.

Prakash, party observer for Maharashtra, said former Home Secretary R K Singh, now a BJP Lok Sabha MP, was the one who coined the term "saffron terrorism".

"The BJP before accusing us of maligning a community's name should first take some information from R K Singh," he said.

The Congress leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interaction with Chief Ministers of drought-hit states early this month was nothing but a "farce".

"He has not provided a timeline for the release of funds to help the states affected by drought. In such a scenario, we want to know will the money really reach the needy states or will it go into somebody else's pockets," he said.