Haryana polls: Tainted MLA Kanda is kingmaker for BJP

NEW DELHI: Gopal Kanda, an accused in the suicide of an air hostess and her mother, has become the kingmaker for the BJP in Haryana where the party is struggling to form government after being restricted short of majority.
Once in news for allegedly forcing two women to commit suicide, former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda has found his way back to the front pages, except that this time a school drop-out turned business tycoon has returned as a ”kingmaker” for the ”world”s largest party” – BJP.
As Kanda offers “unconditional support” to the BJP in Haryana, that fell six short of the halfway mark in the northern state, along with seven other independents to BJP, here”s a look back at the legacy of BJP”s kingmaker in Haryana.
Born in December 1965, Kanda dropped out of school before he could complete Class 10. Considered close to Chautala, when the latter became Haryana chief minister in 1999, Kanda”s fortunes changed.
In 2005, Kanda who was by then a ”land king” in Haryana started ”MDLR Airlines”, named after his father Murli Dhar and son Lakhpat Ram. This is when it is said he met Geetika Sharma, in whose suicide case he is now an accused.
It was just after six months of Geetika”s death, her mother killed herself too, blaming Kanda and his aide for abetting her daughter”s suicide. Kanda is accused in this case as well.