NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Friday tore into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the offer of support by newly-elected Haryana MLA Gopal Kanda. She said the party, which once patronized tainted netas such as Swami Chinmayanand and Kuldeep Sengar, is now considering taking the support of a leader accused of rape and murder.
The AAP leader, who contested the Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully from East Delhi constituency, wondered if the BJP was willing “to form the government in Haryana with the support of the same Gopal Kanda whom they opposed earlier”.
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After the Haryana polls threw up a hung verdict, with the BJP failing to get an absolute majority, a few Independent MLAs offered to lend their support to the saffron party to form the government. Kanda, who is accused of abetting the suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma, was one of them.
In her suicide letter, the air hostess named Kanda as the one responsible for driving her to take the extreme step. Kanda also faces charges under IPC sections 76 and 377 (rape and sodomy).
The AAP spokesperson said, “I want to ask Delhi BJP leaders, especially the ones who had been raising their voice against Kanda till a few years back, if they will now protest against party leaders in Haryana as well as the central BJP leadership.”
Sanjay Singh, the AAP’s election-in-charge in the national capital, also slammed the BJP, saying, “It is Haryana from where the BJP gave the call for ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’. It is ironic that the same BJP is now standing with a leader accused of rape and murder.”
Accused of abetting air hostess’ suicide
Newly-elected MLA Gopal Kanda is accused of abetting the suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma, was one of them. The air hostess named him as the one responsible for her fate in her suicide letter