Haryana Lokhit Party leader Gopal Kanda, who was elected from Sirsa in the recent assembly polls, pledged “unconditional support” to the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday, causing a cascade of political reactions from across party lines.
Kanda is an accused in a case of abetment to suicide of a woman employee of his now-defunct airlines, MDLR.
Kanda told reporters on Friday that he together with five independent candidates had “decided” to extend “unconditional support to the Bharatiya Janata Party” in forming the government in Haryana. In Delhi, six MLAs met the party’s working president J P Nadda.
“We felt that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the country is progressing well and even the state government has delivered and provided a clean and transparent regime,” he told reporters.
BJP leader and former union minister Uma Bharti took to Twitter to warn the party against working with Kanda. Opposition Congress also slammed the BJP, while in New Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party leaders Sanjay Singh and Atishi held a press conference accusing the BJP of engaging in politics that “goes against women security”.
“This decision goes again women’s security. I have a question for the Delhi unit of the BJP: Will they question the central leadership and their counterparts in Haryana if they join hands with Gopal Kanda?” Atishi, who goes by only one name, said.
In a tweet, Bharti cautioned her party that such a move could hurt the clean image enjoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of doublespeak. “I think you should look at the statements made by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah at the time when Gopal Kanda was a minister in the government in Haryana, when we forced him to resign after registration of a case and also removed him from ministership,” he told reporters in Delhi.
Kanda was a minister in the Congress-led government of Bhupinder Hooda. Kanda, who held home, urban bodies, industry and commerce portfolios had tendered his resignation at the time, after an employee whom he had worked with, committed suicide claiming “harassment” by Kanda. Then in the Opposition in Haryana, the BJP had held protests against Kanda, demanding his arrest.
Geetika Sharma, once employed with 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 and one of his employees. Kanda denied the charge. He was booked by the Delhi police in the case, in which he is currently out on bail.
The Delhi court is yet to complete recording of prosecution evidence. Kanda has been asked to appear before Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar on November 27 and 28.
Kanda met Nadda in Delhi last night, but the BJP maintained a safe distance from him throughout Friday.
“Any decision on his will be taken by the party’s central leadership,” said Anil Jain, BJP general secretary in-charge for Haryana.
A senior BJP leader said the party was unlikely to offer a ministerial position to Kanda, unlike to some other independent, even if he extends his support to the BJP government
The BJP has emerged as the largest party with 40 seats in a hung assembly, beating the Congress which won 31 seats.
In a day of hectic parlays between the BJP and other parties, including Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party, the support of Kanda and seven independents was one of the several scenarios that the BJP examined to enable it to cross the majority mark in the 90-member House.
