The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Anil Vij on Saturday, October 26, confirmed that his party will not take Lokhit Party leader Gopal Kanda's support to form government in Haryana.
"No question of including Gopal Kanda in the government, neither are we taking his support," Vij said before the BJP Legislative Party meeting.
On Friday itself, the BJP had sealed an alliance with Dushyant Chautala's newly formed political outfit Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which won 10 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.
The party, which won 40 seats in Haryana Assembly elections, was earlier trying to form a government with the support of Independents. However, it changed the move after a controversy erupted over Gopal Kanda offering unconditional support to BJP.
Expressing discontent over Gopal Kanda offering support to BJP, senior party leader Uma Bharti on Friday requested party leaders to not forget the moral values of their organisation's foundation and asserted that only people with a clean background should be partnered with.
Taking to Twitter, Uma Bharti said, "If Gopal Kanda is the same person because of whom a girl had committed suicide and her mother also committed suicide as she did not get justice. The case is still pending in court, and this person is out on bail."
In another tweet, Bharti said: "Whether Gopal Kanda is innocent or criminal will be decided by law on the basis of evidence, but winning an election does not acquit him of crimes. There are many factors in winning an election."
Who is Gopal Kanda?
Kanda is accused of allegedly abetting the suicide of a young air hostess who worked for his aviation company in 2012. A few months later, the girl's mother had also allegedly committed suicide.
To do away with Gopal Kanda and for a stable government in the state, the BJP started weighing the options of an alliance with JJP. Finally, the deal was sealed in a meeting between BJP President Amit Shah and Dushyant Chautala.
Amit Shah accepted the offer made by JJP to give Deputy Chief Minister's post to the party which was a major cause for BJP's poor show in the state Assembly polls.
