Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh stuck to his new line on Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur that “an Arushi-like case was being built up around her”, and that “those believing in cultural nationalism cannot ever take to terror”, in a series of media interactions through Thursday.

The BJP president in an interview with The Indian Express on Wednesday had said that investigating agencies had not found any evidence against the former ABVP activist — alleged to have a hand in the Malegaon blasts — “a reason why they were insisting on a narco-test”.

Rajnath’s statement, which set off a furore, had the BJP headquarters abuzz all through the day, even as it invited a strong reaction from the Congress. An influential section of the BJP leadership was, however, of the view that as a responsible political party, it must allow the investigating agencies to present the evidence, if any, without jumping to the defence of any accused. Rajnath, however, stuck to his argument that “let the investigating agencies produce some evidence against the Sadhvi. Till then, she cannot be called a terrorist”.

The issue, predictably, figured prominently when the BJP leadership, including its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani and Rajnath, met a galaxy of RSS leaders to discuss the “various issues facing the country and the Hindu society”. “The Sadhvi Pragya case, and the BJP president's latest statement on the issue did come up for discussion after the formal meeting got over,” revealed a senior RSS leader.

The RSS leaders present at the meeting included organisation chief K S Sudarshan, his second-in-command Mohan Bhagwat, RSS pointman for BJP Suresh Soni, senior leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi and the 11 ‘kshetriya pracharaks’ — the RSS has divided the country into eleven kshetras (regions) — from various parts of the country.