Whether it is high profile lucknow parliamentary constituency or for that matter the Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar parliamentary constituency or many other lok Sabha seats of this Indo Gangetic belt stretching across UP and Uttarakhand, there is one common wining factor for main political
parties particularly the Congress party and the BJP and that is influence of veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari in these seats.
In the lucknow lok Sabha seat where it seem Congress and BJP are in direct electoral conflict, Congress party candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi and BJP candidate Rajnath Singh who also happens to be party national president, have already called on veteran Tiwri in the capital of UP recently.
So senior BJP leader and party candidate from Nainital- Udhamsingh Nagar lok Sabha seat Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has also met Tiwari during his recent visit to different parts of UP including lucknow to seek his blessings.
But these recent meetings of BJP leaders with veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari has not gone down well in the Congress hierarchy here also.
The Congress party that had earlier even not thought it was appropriate to consult Tiwari on finalisation of tickets in some seats of Uttarakhand particularly the Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar constituency as his close aides allegedly said, has also started to send its leaders to call on veteran Tiwari.
In this process after meeting of Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Uttarakhand State Cabinet Minister and senior Congress party leader Indira Hardiyesh for whom victory of the party in the Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar is not less important than the party's official candidate KC Singh Baba as her Assembly constituency falls in this lok Sabha seat, has also had a meeting with ND Tiwari in lucknow recently.
More so, State Cabinet Minister and independent MlA from lalkuan Harish Chandra Durgapal who is considered to be a close confidante of senior Cabinet Minister Hardiyesh has also called on the veteran Congress leader
Tiwari to seek his support at least in this Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar parliamentary constituency.
If the Congress leaders here are to be believed on request of Cabinet Minister Hardiyesh and Durgapal, Tiwari may come to campaign for the party candidate in the Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar lok Sabha seat on April 30.
However, on the one hand the Congress leaders remember veteran Tiwari's contribution to the society on the other they taunt the BJP leaders on their meetings with leaders like ND Tiwari.
If there is a Modi wave, so why the BJP leaders like its national president Rajnath Singh are meeting with Tiwari, asked senior Congress leader and party's State media in charge Tilak Raj Behar.
There is no wave of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. It is the only Congress party that has worked for all round development of every sections of the society. Therefore, people would definitely support the Congress party once again, he expressed hope.
It is to note that Tilak Raj Behar is one of the prominent leaders of the Congress party who holds clout in state's Terai politics particularly in Udham Singh Nagar.
Although BJP's Raj Kumar Thukral defeated Behar in 2012 Assembly polls of Uttarakhand in the Rudrapur Assembly constituency, yet Behar expressed hoped that Congress would do well in this Terai belt as this area of the Nainital-Udhdam Sing Nagar lok Sabha seat has been the strong hold of the Congress.
It is also to add that interestingly, out of nine Assembly seats in Uham Singn Nagar which falls in the Nainital -Udham Singh Nagar lok Sabha seat, presently six seats are with the BJP. So whereas the BJP is quite hopeful of repeating its winning streak in the upcoming polls too, the Congress party has also kept its hope alive describing this Terai belt of Udham Singh Nagar as its pocket borough.