Gopal Kanda supports BJP, triggers row over his past
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 J P Nadda.
The apparent BJP move to accept Kanda's support was slammed by the opposition Congress and BJP leader Uma Bharti, who recalled the row in which the politician was involved when as a minister in Haryana's Congress government in 2012.
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. 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.
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 (Indian Penal Code 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.
Geetika Sharma, once employed with Kanda's then MDLR airlines, was found dead at her Ashok Vihar home in northwest Delhi on August 5, 2012.
In her August 4 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. Kanda, who held home, urban bodies, industry and commerce portfolios in the Hooda government, had tendered his resignation when the row erupted.
Then in the opposition in Haryana, the BJP had held protests against Kanda, demanding his arrest. Kanda, who was earlier associated with the Indian National Lok Dal, fought as an independent and won the 2009 assembly polls after being denied a party ticket.
Later, he extended support to the Congress when it fell short of majority that year and was made a minister. Kanda's rise is well known in his hometown Sirsa, where he began as a shoe shop owner. He later joined the realty business and then dabbled with the aviation sector.
Asked what made him and independent candidates extend support to the BJP, Kanda said, "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.
So all independents talked yesterday and felt that the development work should continue, and therefore we decided to extend unconditional support to the BJP, he said. Kanda said he and some other independents have talked to senior BJP leaders as well. He claimed that some top Congress leaders also approached them, "but we decided to support the BJP".
A senior Haryana BJP leader said four of the winners -- Balraj Kundu from Meham, Nayan Pal Rawat from Prithla, Sombir Sangwan from Dadri and Randhir Gollen from Pundri -- fought as Independents when they did not get BJP tickets. Besides, two other independents Rakesh Daulatabad, Dharampal Gonder are said to have BJP leanings. Ranjit Singh Chautala, a Congress rebel, has already announced his support to the BJP.
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Compromised PM didn't sign trade deal with US, but a bargain for Adani's release: Rahul
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of signing a trade deal with the US only to secure the "release" of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani.
"Compromised PM did not strike a trade deal, but a bargain for Adani's release," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X, after reports that the US has agreed to settle the lawsuit that accused Adani of hiding alleged bribery.
The US government has agreed to settle the lawsuit filed against Adani, who is accused of duping investors by concealing that his company's huge solar energy project in India was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme, according to court filings published Thursday.
Reacting to the reports, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said it was now clear why the PM agreed to the "hopelessly one-sided Indo-US trade deal that was really a steal by the US".
"And it is also clear why he abruptly halted Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025, acting on President Trump's threats rather than on our national interest. Reportedly, the Trump Administration is about to drop all charges of corruption against Modani," he said on X.
"How much more compromised can the PM get?" Ramesh asked.
In the lawsuit filed in late 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, who is a director at the group's renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd, of agreeing to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years.
It was alleged in the lawsuit that Adani Group raised USD 2 billion in loans and bonds, including from US firms, on the backs of false and misleading statements related to the firm's anti-bribery practices and policies.
The ports-to-energy conglomerate had denied the allegations.
