The moot question is, why has Indu Goswami given the ticket from Shanta Kumar’s home constituency, from where the candidature of one of Kumar’s most trusted lieutenants and sitting MLA Pravin Sharma? The fact remains that Indu had been associated with Modi since the time he was in charge of the state. And her candidature is to break the knuckles of the rebel Shanta Kumar. And to witness the cruelty of politics, it is Kumar himself who has been given the responsibility of ensuring Indu’s win! Is this Modi’s way of settling an old score with Shanta Kumar? It may be recalled that way back in 2002, after the Gujarat massacres when Modi was CM, Shanta Kumar had said that if he had been the CM, he would have resigned. In fact, Shanta had released this letter to the media as well. Anyway, Shanta Kumar’s right hand man Pravin Sharma is contesting Palampur as an independent candidate and strewing Indu’s path with thorns, for she is as yet being considered an ‘outsider’ in the constituency. The Congress has won from this seat seven times in the past, and this time around, the party has fielded Ashish Butail, son of the state legislature’s Speaker Brij Behari Lal Butail against Indu Goswami. The BJP has line up all its ammunition to defeat Ashish, who is contesting elections for the first time ever.