Under fire for her remark that Nathuram Godse is a patriot, BJP’s Bhopal Lok Sabha seat candidate Pragya Singh Thakur tendered an apology on Thursday night and said she respected Mahatma Gandhi as his work for the country cannot be forgotten.

“My statement was not to hurt anyone’s feelings. If it has hurt anybody’s feelings then I apologise. What Gandhi Ji has done for the country cannot be forgotten. I respect him a lot,” Pragya Thakur said in a video statement.

Pragya Thakur said she made the comments on the spur of moment to a question linked to “saffron terror” and claimed that the media twisted them.

Asked about the BJP terming her remarks as her personal views, she agreed and added that she was a disciplined worker of the party.

She said her party’s line is her line.

Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP candidate from the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, on Thursday, said that Nathuram Godse was a “deshbhakt (patriot)”, is a “deshbhakt (patriot)” and will remain a “deshbhakt (patriot). People calling him a terrorist should instead look within, such people will be given a befitting reply in these elections.”

Pragya, an accused in the Malegaon blast case, was replying to a query on Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief and actor Kamal Haasan’s remark that the “first terrorist in independent India was a Hindu”, referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse.

Following Thakur’s remark on Nathuram Godse, senior BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao issued a hurried statement on Thursday in which he said that the party does not endorse her comment and will ask her to give an explanation.

“BJP does not agree with this statement, we condemn it. Party will ask her for clarification. She should apologise publicly for this statement,” said Narasimha Rao.

The comment by Thakur provided fodder to the Opposition Congress to target the BJP.

Slamming the BJP for Thakur’s comment, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala called it an “insult to the country” and said, “India’s soul is under attack from the successors of Nathuram Godse, the BJP ruling dispensation.”

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who is pitted against Thakur in Bhopal, termed her comment as “sedition” and demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah.