Within hours of veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari meeting BJP president Amit Shah here and word being out about his “joining” the party along with his son Rohit Shekhar, BJP leaders on Wednesday tempered their comments saying “he has extended support to the party”.
The BJP did not say whether Tiwari or his son joined the party. “He came and appreciated the work done by Modi and supported the party,” said a senior leader skirting queries on the status of Tiwari and Shekhar in the BJP. “The Congress has been shaken by many desertions and more will follow the suit,” the leader said.
As the three-time former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and once Chief Minister of Uttarakhand crossed over to the BJP bandwagon in an election year, his extended family members expressed “shock and disappointment” over him jettisoning his long-standing Congress loyalties.
The backing of the 91-year-old leader has, however, given a boost to the BJP in the Assembly polls in Uttarakhand due on February 15.
Accompanying the veteran at the residence of the BJP chief was Rohit, whom Tiwari had acknowledged as his son after a six-year legal battle established his paternity.
“In our meeting with the BJP president we offered our support to him. It is now up to him to how to utilise us. My father blessed him,” Rohit said.
Asked why his father decided to leave Congress, he said the party had completely ignored him. “Have you ever seen his photo in any Congress posterIJ”
Earlier in the day, Secretary, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress committee, Ramesh Chandra Tiwari and a nephew of the Congress leader, expressed “extreme shock and disappointment” over his uncle shifting loyalties to the BJP.
“I would like to inform everyone that the family is extremely disappointed, in fact shocked, at the developments regarding ND Tiwari. We are a longstanding Congress family of freedom fighters and we have reason to believe that Tiwari would never desert the Congress on his own volition.
“We strongly believe that these decisions are being made for him, by others, keeping in mind their own interests and agendas. Either way, we members of the Tiwari family, do not endorse this move at all and see ourselves as eternally part of the Indian National Congress”, said Ramesh.
The extended family of Tiwari sought to indicate that nonagenarian Tiwari was too old to do his own bidding.
Congress has been deserted by a number of senior leaders in the hill State and BJP has awarded 15 of them with party tickets to contest the Assembly polls even risking a rebellion in these Assembly segments.
The party is yet to announce its nominees for six seats and it remains to be seen if it accommodates any kin of Tiwari. The roping in of Tiwari by the BJP is seen as an attempt to consolidate the Brahmin vote in Uttarakhand.
Tiwari was thrice Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1976-77, 1984-85, 1988-89) and once Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (2002-2007). In 1986-1987, he served in Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet as the Minister for External Affairs. At one time in early nineties, Tiwari was even touted as potential Prime Ministerial candidate. He was serving as Governor of Andhra Pradesh from 2007 until 2009, when he was forced to resign following a sex scandal.
He remained a Congressman all his life except for a brief period when he, along with several leaders proclaiming allegiance to Sonia Gandhi, broke away to form Congress (Tiwari) when the party was headed by PV Narasimha Rao and Sonia had not joined active politics yet.