Dhirendra Shastri to deliver sermon at Sirsa event

Bageshwar Dham head Dhirendra Krishna Shastri arrived in Sirsa on Friday to deliver a five-day sermon at Tara Baba Kutia, which is operated by Haryana Lokhit Party member and HLP-INLD-BSP candidate Gopal Kanda. Shastri was warmly welcomed by Gopal Kanda and his brother Gobind Kanda. Hundreds of people gathered at the venue to catch a glimpse of the spiritual leader.

The event comes shortly after INLD’s Abhay Chautala and Gopal Kanda put aside a 15-year rivalry to form an alliance for the upcoming elections. For Kanda, the alliance provides him a much-needed relief as he narrowly won the last election by just 602 votes against his opponent Gokul Setia, who has now joined the Congress party and is running again from Sirsa.

Kanda insisted that the event is purely religious, however, his political rivals see it as a strategic move to sway voters ahead of the elections. Speaking to The Tribune, Kanda clarified that he had been organising such religious programmes for over 25 years, long before he entered electoral politics in 2009. He further emphasised that such events were a regular occurrence in Sirsa, which is a religious city.

His critics argue that the timing of the event, just ahead of elections, suggests that it is a tactic to attract voters. The five-day programme is expected to draw large crowds. Besides, meals will be provided to attendees.

Kanda had organised a similar event with Dhirendra Shastri before the Lok Sabha poll in Kurukshetra. That event witnessed significant footfall, with BJP leader Naveen Jindal, his mother Savitri Jindal and their family in attendance. Jindal secured 5,42,175 votes, defeating Sushil Gupta, the joint candidate of the AAP-Congress alliance, by a margin of 29,021 votes. INLD candidate Abhay Chautala had finished third with 78,708 votes.