BJP to field Indu Goswami for Rajya Sabha; nomination to be filed tomorrow

Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Shimla, March 12

Former State Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila President Indu Goswami has been choosen by the ruling BJP as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha.

The nomination will be filed on Friday.

Goswami, who hails from the Baijnath area of Kangra, had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly election from Palampur constituency.

Since the Baijnath segment is reserved for the scheduled caste category, Goswami shifted to the adjoining Palampur segment, against the wishes of the former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar.

The 50-year-old Goswami has been running a school in Baijnath and is occupied with social work.

She had resigned as State BJP Mahila President in July 2019.

She also remained a Chairperson of the State Commission for Women when PK Dhumal was the chief minister.

It was learned that Goswami’s name was chosen after the BJP Central Election Committee on Wednesday said that preference should be given to a woman leader or ex-servicemen. It is then that the name of Goswami along with some retired army officers was forwarded by the state BJP unit.

The State Election Committee of the BJP, which met here on March 9, had forwarded the names of Mahender Pandey, National Organisational Secretary for BJP Frontal Organisation and Cells, former State BJP President Satpal Satti and Kuldeep Chand Agnihotri, Vice-Chancellor of Central University, Kangra.