Deserted for years, Kanda’s address in Gurugram suddenly springs to life

GURUGRAM: There is no full stop in politics. The adage seems to perfectly fit the bill for 54-year-old controversial MLA from Sirsa, Gopal Goyal Kanda, who won by a margin of just 641 votes over independent candidate Gokul Setia. Ever since his loss in the 2014 assembly elections from Sirsa, his paltaial bungalow and his party Haryana Lokhit Party's main headquarters both

located in Gurugram's Civil Lines used to wear a deserted

look. Co-incidentally the main headquarters of Gopal Kanda's party HLP is situated in the office where Sirsa MLA had an office for his private airlines Murli Dhar Lakhpat Ram (MDLR) airlines. It is in this office where the air hostess Geetika Sharma used to work.

In 2012 she complained that she was sexually and mentally harassed by Kanda and committed suicide. The despair for the Sharma family grew as just a few months after the suicide of Geetika, her mother Anuradha Sharma also committed suicide.

Geetika's 30-year-old brother Ankit and 60-yearold father are still fighting for justice for their late sister and mother. According to Ankit, the goons of Gopal Kanda had even roughed them up in 2015 in a Delhi Court in order to intimidate them.

“It has taken seven years and the case has not moved on a single bit. Does it take seven years to record the statements of the witnesses involved in the case? Just imagine if Kanda can use his political influence by not being in the power what will he do when he will become the minister,” said Ankit Sharma.

Even as Ankit and his father waiting for justice, the scenario on Thursday and Friday completely changed for Kanda and his properties began to be filled with the party supporters chanting Kanda's name.

The buzz and noise in these areas grew even more after Gopal Kanda announced that he will be offering unconditional support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which the party has declined as of now. Addressing the media, both Gopal Kanda and his brother Govind Kanda have claimed that their father was associated with RSS since 1926. Sirsa may have elected Gopal Goyal Kanda but his fortunes were made in Gurugram. He shifted to the city in the year 1997, a time when the realty in the city was booming.

Sensing a big opportunity, he worked as an arbitrator in the property disputes. Kanda was associated with Indian National Loka Dal (19992004). After his falling out with the party, he later supported Indian National Congress as an independent in 2009 when Bhupinder Hooda government fell short of a majority by securing 40 seats even then.