BJP cornered on taking Kanda’s support in Haryana

New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday found itself embroiled in a controversy after it decided to take support from controversial legislator Gopal Kanda in order to form the government in Haryana a day after it fell short of a majority.

Kanda, an accused charged with rape and abetment of suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma, announced his party Haryana Lokhit Party’s (HLP) unconditional support to BJP after the legislative assembly polls threw up a hung assembly.

Senior BJP leader and former union minister Uma Bharti came out against her party’s decision to “welcome” Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kanda in the alliance.

“I would like to request the party not to forget its moral foundation. One should ensure that those who are with us are as clean and spotless as BJP workers. We have a force like Narendra Modi,” Bharti tweeted.

Bharti said Kanda’s victory in the election does not absolve him of his crime.

“Kanda is the same person who was the cause of a girl’s suicide, the suicide of her mother and faces trial. Whether he is innocent or guilty, the law will decide. But his winning an election does not absolve him. There are many factors in an election victory,” she added.

In 2012, Geetika, an employee in Kanda’s aviation company, killed herself naming him in her suicide note. The politician was jailed for a year before being released on bail. At that time, BJP had demanded his resignation and arrest.

Geetika’s brother Ankit Sharma on Friday accused Kanda of destroying evidence and turning witnesses hostile.

“There is a charge sheet against him of 1,800 pages which speaks of what he did to my sister, how he destroyed her life. But that charge sheet is of no use if you don’t have a trial on time,” Ankit said.

BJP blamed

He blamed BJP for allowing him to be a part of the state government.

“I believe he will be made a minister in Haryana. How can you give power to someone who is involved in a case of destroying and killing somebody?

I have suffered this loss for the last seven years and I am still suffering. I still suffer when I go to a courtroom and see this person being treated like a VIP. It kills me inside,” Ankit said.

Meanwhile, Congress flayed Chief Minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar for taking Kanda’s support in government formation. The grand old party accused BJP of doublespeak.

“Once upon a time, BJP took out rally against Gopal Kanda demanding his resignation and arrest. Now they are desperate to take his support in Haryana, he is accused of rape and murder. Where is ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’ (save girl child, educate girl child) movement now? This is a disgrace. Is Kanda purified by supporting BJP,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala questioned.

Reacting to allegations against him, Kanda said the case against him was baseless and he would soon emerge clean.

“The case is baseless and lacks evidence. Me and my family have been associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since 1926. The country is on the path to development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The development work being carried out in Haryana under BJP must continue. The rumours being spread against me don’t mean a thing; we must rather focus on development and welfare of the country,” Kanda told media.

After Thursday’s result of assembly election, BJP with 40 seats, fell six short of the majority figure in the 90-member assembly whereas Congress won 31 seats and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) only 10.

Who is Gopal Kanda?

Gopal Kanda, winner in the recently concluded legislative assembly election in Haryana, is the chief of the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP). He contested from Sirsa.

Kanda, a resident of Bilaspur village in Sirsa district, did a host of odd jobs, including measuring vegetables and other agricultural produce in Sirsa vegetable market. It is here he added the title Kanda to his name. He even repaired radios and ran a music cassette shop, before he, along with his brother, got into dealing in shoe business, where he did not do well.

Kanda’s fortunes changed when he entered into the real estate business in the late 1990s. He shifted to Gurugram and started taking up disputed properties and solved them to his advantage. Kanda bought properties in Gurugram and Sirsa taking advantage of the real estate boom then. He was accused of hobnobbing with anti-social elements to ‘sort out’ disputed properties, though Kanda later rejected the allegation.

IT department had conducted raids at the premises belonging to Kanda in the 2000s, but nobody knows what came out of them.

In 2012, he was a minister in the Congress government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda when air hostess Geetika Sharma committed suicide naming him in the suicide note. Geetika, a former employee with Kanda’s now-defunct MDLR airlines, had accused Kanda of sexual harassment.

The businessman-politician evaded arrest for several days and was eventually forced to resign from the party.

He was charged with rape, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation, and was jailed in the case for a year. The rape charges were dropped in 2014 and he was released on bail.

In February 2013, Geetika’s mother Anuradha Sharma too committed suicide as she “felt helpless.” She chose the same method of suicide as her daughter and left a suicide note at the same place as her.