New Delhi: Distancing itself from the ‘pro-Godse’ remarks of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Anant Kumar Hegde and Nalin Kumar Kateel, BJP president Amit Shah, on Friday said the party does not endorse the comments made by the leaders and has asked them for an explanation within 10 days. The BJP, in all its likely may initiate disciplinary action against the leaders.

In a statement, the BJP chief said comments made by the three leaders are their personal opinion and the party has nothing to do with it.

“They have withdrawn their statements and even apologised. Even then, the BJP has taken their statements seriously as they are in contrary to the ideology of the party. The statement will be forwarded to the disciplinary committee,” the party chief said.

BJP’s Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate and Malegaon blast accused Pragya Thakur, on Thursday lauded Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a “patriot”, sparking an outrage from the Opposition.

Under fire for her remarks, Ms Thakur tendered an apology the same night and said she respected Mahatma Gandhi as his work for the country cannot be forgotten.

BJP MP from Dakshina Kannada, Kateel compared Godse to former PM Rajiv Gandhi. In a tweet, he said, “Godse killed one, Kasab killed 72, Rajiv Gandhi killed 17,000. You judge who is more cruel in this??” It was then deleted.

His colleague Hegde, known for his controversial remarks, added to the chorus with a tweet that read: “Am glad that 7 decades later today’s generation debates in a changed perceptional environment and gives good scope for the condemned to be heard upon. #NathuramGodse would have finally felt happy with this debate!”

As he faced flak for his remark, the minister deleted the tweet and posted: “My Twitter account has been breached twice in the past one week and certain tweets have been posted on my timeline which has been discarded and deleted. Regret the posts attributed to me.”