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WHO IS VIJAY GOEL

Vijay Goel is a politician affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rajya Sabha (Rajasthan) since 2014. He served as a Minister of State for sports and youth affairs (July 2016 to Sep 2017), parliamentary affairs (Sep 2017 to May 2019), and Statistics & Programme Implementation (Sep 2017 to May 2019), in the Narendra Modi-led central government.
 
Previously, during the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he had served as the minister for State for Statistics & Programme Implementation (July 2002 to July 2004), Planning (Sep 2001 to Nov 2001), and Prime Minister's Office (Sep 2001 to July 2004).
 
Born on 4 January 1954 to Charti Lal Goel and Basanti Devi, Vijay Goel did MCom from Shri Ram College of Commerce and LLB from the Delhi University (DU). His father was also a politician and formerly the Speaker of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. Goel became active in politics during his college days and went on to become the president of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU).
 
Goel had three consecutive terms as a member of the Lok Sabha (LS) — representing Delhi’s Sadar seat in the 11th LS (1996-98), and Chandni Chowk in the 12th and 13th LS (1998-99 and 1999-2004).
 
In February 2013, he became the president of the BJP’s Delhi unit and was briefly projected as its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls. However, he was removed as the Delhi BJP chief and Harsh Vardhan was made the CM face a little before election.
 
A vocal critic of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s policies, he has also questioned, on several occasions, the credibility of AAP’s legislators, accusing them of corruption and serious offences.
 
For the 2020 Delhi Assembly election, Vijay Goel is one of the most active campaigners for the BJP.
 

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