Following a poor performance by the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, where it lost five seats to the Opposition INDIA bloc, Haryana Janhit Party founder and Sirsa MLA Gopal Kanda is likely to be a vital cog in the party’s attempts to regain lost ground in Sirsa. A recent meeting Kanda had with Haryana BJP in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan in Delhi has further added grist to the rumour mill. This was followed by a statement by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini that the NDA would move forward together and win all the five Assembly seats in Sirsa. Though Kanda is his party's lone legislator and is already a part of the NDA, the BJP is seeking to plug loopholes across the 90 Assembly seats. In the recent Lok Sabha polls where the BJP and Congress five seats each, the INDIA bloc finished ahead in 46 of the 90 Assembly segments, giving the BJP a lead in only 44. Kanda, who founded the Haryana Janhit Party in 2014, is a two-time MLA from Sirsa and a former Haryana minister. Tight-lipped over what he discussed with Pradhan, and whether a merger with the BJP was on the cards, Kanda told The Indian Express: “We will tell you whenever things become clear. As of now, the matter is confidential." Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Kanda had sought 10-12 Assembly seats for his party from the BJP. Speaking to The Indian Express in May, he had said: “The BJP has not won any Assembly seat in Sirsa for over 25 years now. By leaving seats for us, they can form a government for the third straight time. We are connected with the people of the region and have previously contested adjoining Assembly seats like Kalanwali, Ratia and Rania." Kanda had added that in case things did not work out with the BJP, his party would contest at least 15 seats in the state, including Hisar and Sirsa. Sources in the BJP, however, said the party is not keen on giving Kanda beyond two-three seats. “So far, the Kandas have been able to win only one seat. Gopal’s brother Govind secured 60,000 votes in the 2021 Ellenabad bypoll but he contested on a BJP ticket. In 2019, Govind lost the Rania seat to then Independent candidate Ranjit Singh Chautala. Currently, the party can consider giving the Sirsa seat to Gopal and either Ellenabad or Rania to Govind,” a BJP leader said, requesting anonymity. However, the leader said that this too will not be easy for the BJP as Chautala, who was the first Independent legislator to offer support to the BJP after it fell short of a majority in 2019, has not only joined the BJP but has also started his campaign in Rania. In Ellenabad, Captain Meenu Beniwal, who recently joined the BJP and is seen to be close to Union minister and former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, is in contention for the BJP ticket. The leader also pointed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement following the Lok Sabha results that the BJP "will not have any alliance with any party". As per a leader, Kanda may be willing to switch to the Congress too with his brother, if the alliance with the BJP does not come through. "Such a scenario would not be a first for Gopal. Following the 2009 Assembly polls, when the Congress had fallen short of a majority, then CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had sought Gopal’s support. Gopal had then settled for nothing less than Minister of State for Home Affairs." Kanda had to resign then after he was named and arrested in August 2012 over charges of abetting the suicide of Geetika Sharma, an airhostess who worked in his MDLR airlines. The case had then made national headlines. In July 2023, a Delhi court acquitted Kanda and his associate Arun Chadha in the case, observing that “mere naming of the accused in a suicide not was not sufficient evidence to hold them guilty of abetment”. A year later, Kanda's political fortunes seem clearly on the rise again. Meanwhile, both the Congress and BJP claim that the Sharma abetment case is not currently not a factor as the court has acquitted Gopal. “The HLP is already a part of the NDA in Haryana but nothing is final on the alliance front for the Assembly elections,” Haryana BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma told The Indian Express. Haryana Congress spokesperson Naveen Kedia said the case is not an issue anymore but asserted that Gopal relies only on “money power” and does not meet people. “Even the people of Sirsa are upset with him. If I get the Congress ticket, I will surely defeat him,” he said.
