Setia takes jibe at Kanda, brings up Geetika suicide
The political atmosphere in Sirsa has become heated as the MC elections near.
Leaders from different parties are making strong statements against each other. A major conflict has emerged between Congress MLA Gokul Setia and brothers Gopal Kanda — a Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) leader — and Gobind Kanda — a BJP leader.
Setia has accused Gobind Kanda of being mentally unstable, and has brought up the old Geetika suicide case once again.
In response, Gopal Kanda has accused Setia of engaging in negative politics instead of focusing on development. During a political meeting, Gobind Kanda claimed that Gokul Setia was spreading fear in the city, and that his grandfather, Laxman Das Arora, had failed to develop Sirsa.
In response, Setia attacked Gobind Kanda, saying, “We didn’t kill Geetika. This man has lost his mental balance. He is a nonsense person, and I don’t want to respond to his baseless statements.”
A day earlier, Setia had shared a Facebook post showing a picture of Gopal Kanda with an alleged opium smuggler named Gaurav Sharma. Sharma has been arrested with 2-kg opium by the Anti-Narcotics Bureau.
It was revealed that BJP-HLP candidate Angrej Bathla had helped Sharma join the HLP. The picture showed Sharma wearing the party’s scarf and standing next to Kanda and Bathla.
Gopal Kanda fired back, saying that Setia was only talking “bakwaas” (nonsense) instead of discussing “vikas” (development).
Gopal Kanda said Setia was acting like a YouTuber instead of a leader. He claimed that the people of Sirsa had decided to support the BJP as it was in power in both the state and the Centre.
According to him, the BJP-HLP alliance was heading for an easy victory, which was making Setia frustrated.
In 2012, Geetika Sharma, a former director of MDLR Airlines (owned by Gopal Kanda), was found dead in her Delhi apartment.
In her suicide note, she blamed Kanda and his company’s manager, Aruna Chadha, for betraying her trust. Following this, Delhi Police filed a case against both of them, and Kanda had to resign from his ministerial position.
He also spent 18 months in jail. However, in 2023, a Delhi court acquitted him of all charges. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Jaswinder Kaur met MP Kumari Selja in Jind, requesting her to campaign in Sirsa.
So far, apart from Setia, Congress leaders have remained distant from her campaign.
In an effort to avoid sending the wrong message to voters, efforts are being made to involve Selja in the campaign. With only three days left for campaigning, both BJP and Congress are making their final efforts.
Congress’s Setia and Kaur are holding back-to-back meetings, while BJP has brought in two cabinet ministers — Agriculture Minister Shyam Singh Rana and Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Bedi — to campaign in Sirsa. Chief Minister Nayab Saini is expected to visit the district soon.
