Parties corner BJP over Kanda’s support
CHANDIGARH: With six MLAS short of the number needed to form the next government, the BJP Friday was promised “unconditional support” by Haryana Lokhit Party leader Gopal Kanda, a controversial politician accused in a case of abetment to suicide.
Kanda told reporters that he and all independent candidates have “decided” to extend unconditional support to the Bharatiya Janata Party. In Delhi, six MLAS met the party’s working president JP Nadda.
The apparent BJP move to accept Kanda’s support was slammed by the opposition. In a tweet, the former Union minister cautioned her party that this could hurt the clean image enjoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The Aam Aadmi Party also slammed the BJP for seeking support of the controversial MLA to form the government in Haryana, saying the saffron party is aligning with a rape accused in a state where it launched the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme. The BJP has emerged as the largest party with 40 seats in a hung assembly, beating the Congress which won 31 seats. Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party has 10 MLAS and Indian National Lok Dal one.
The BJP is mainly counting on the support of Kanda, the lone MLA from his party, and seven independents to cross the majority mark in the 90-member House.
“My family is connected with the RSS since 1926. My father was connected with the BJP,” said the Sirsa MLA, who was booked in 2012 for allegedly abetting the suicide of an air hostess employed with his aviation company. Kanda was then Haryana’s home minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.
“There is only one false case of 306 (IPC section related to abetment to suicide) against me,” he said. “It is easy to make accusations,” he said, trashing reports that he faced other cases as well.
Geet i k a S ha r ma, o nc e employed with Kanda’s then MDLR airlines, was found dead at her Ashok Vihar home in northwest Delhi on August 5, 2012. In her suicide note, she said she was ending her life due to “harassment” by Kanda. Kanda was booked in the case, in which he is out on bail.