New Delhi: The BJP’s deal with the JJP may have been an afterthought. It came after the BJP was mocked online for holding talks with rape accused Gopal Goyal Kanda.
Kanda, for the record, allegedly forced two women to commit suicide. The first victim was an employee of his airlines - Geetika Sharma, an air hostess, in August 2013. Just six months after Geetika's death, her mother killed herself too, blaming Kanda.
Kanda, who till Friday afternoon was the kingmaker for the BJP, which was falling six seats short of majority, was brought on board by BJP's Goa President Vinay Tendulkar, sources said.
While, up north, Kanda is known to be a Haryana strongman and as the owner of the defunct MDLR airlines, he is also known as the 'gambling mogul' in Goa where he owns Big Daddy Casino.
It is one of the six floating gaming parlours that operates on Goa's Mandovi River.In no time, Kanda was on board a chartered flight that took off from Sirsa for Delhi for a meeting with the BJP top leadership. A selfie that was clicked on board the flight showed BJP MP from Sirsa Sunita Duggal as well.
Nightlong negotiations later, on Friday morning, he pledged "unconditional support" to the BJP, and spoke of his family's RSS roots. Soon, seven more independent MLAs followed suit.But by the time Kanda was actively reached out
by the party, an online campaign had been initiated ridiculing the PM’s 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign. That triggered the outreach for Dushyant Chautala and his band of ten MPs.
By ANINDYA Banerjee
