BJP MP Pragya Thakur has been nominated to a 21-memberparliamentary consultative committee on defence that will be headed by DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh. An accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, PragyaThakur is currently out on bail, granted on grounds of ill health, and facesmultiple charges under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, theIndian Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. In itsresponse the Congress called the appointment "an insult to our nation'sdefence forces".

"Pragya Thakur, a terror accused & Godse fanatichas been nominated by the BJP govt. to be a member of the Parliamentary Panelon Defence. This move is an insult to our nation's defence forces, to ournation's esteemed parliamentarians & to every Indian," the party saidin a tweet this morning.Congress Secretary Pranav Jha told news agency IANSthat her appointment was "not good for democracy" and urged the BJPto re-think the nomination.

"Bringing such people, against whom the cases are goingin court is not good for democracy. Everything is not guided by theConstitution but some decisions are taken on moral grounds too," he said.Theconsultative committee is decided by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs andnot by parliament itself; it only has powers of consultation and its recommendationsare not binding.

According to a notification dated October 31, other membersof the committee include National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, who hasbeen detained at his residence in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar since thecentre's decision on Article 370 in August. His absence from the start ofparliament's Winter Session, which began on Monday, led to protests fromopposition leaders.

Pragya Thakur is a first-time parliamentarian and waselected from Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, where she beat veteran Congress leaderDigvijaya Singh by over 3.6 lakh votes.

In July the newest-member of the consultative committee ondefence was admonished by the BJP for telling party workers that she"wasn't elected to get drains and toilets cleaned".The consultativecommittee is decided by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

"We haven't been elected to clean your drains, ok? Wehaven't been elected to clean your toilets, please understand. The work forwhich I have been elected, I will do honestly, I have said that before and Iwill say it again," she told workers in Sehore, which is part of herparliamentary constituency of Bhopal

The 49-year-old was reportedly responding to a BJP workercomplaining about the lack of hygiene and cleanliness in his area.Only a fewmonths earlier, while campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Pragya Thakursparked fury from the opposition after describing Nathuram Godse, MahatmaGandhi's assassin, as a "patriot".The remark eventually, forced theBJP into damage control mode with party leader Amit Shah tweeting: "thesecomments have nothing to do with the party".

Amid spiraling criticism and unrelenting attacks byopposition leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forced to issue a commentas well. He said he could "never forgive her"."These kinds ofstatements made about Gandhiji are condemnable and cannot be allowed incivilised society. She may have apologised, but I shall never forgiveher," the Prime Minister said.

However, she was let off lightly by the party after she madean apology by way of a statement that said: "The remarks I made have hurtthe sentiment of many...".

At least six people were killed and more than 100 injuredafter a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded on September 29 in Maharashtra'sMalegaon. An NIA court had dropped charges under the Maharashtra Control of OrganisedCrime Act but a trial court retained those under the Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act.