Veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari who gave the Congressmen a tough time here earlier signaling to throw his hat in the ring as an independent candidate from the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar lok Sabha seat, appealed to the voters to support Congress candidate KC Singh Baba in different parts of Haldwani including Bindukhatta here on Wednesday.
Though the Nainital- Udham Singh Nagar lok Sabha seat has always been a traditional Congress turf where it has had a direct electoral fight with the BJP, recent meetings of BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and BJP candidate from the aforesaid seat Bhagat Singh Koshiyari with Tiwari in lucknow had kept the Congress leaders unnerved.
Subsequently, state Finance Minister Indira Hardiyesh for whom victory of Congress party in this seat is not less important as she is party MlA from the Haldwani assembly constituency also, called on the former chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Tiwari in lucknow and impressed upon him to visit Haldwani and other areas of this constituency to support the Congress candidate KC Singh Baba.
Senior Congress leader Tiwari reached Bindukhatta this afternoon from lucknow. During his interaction with the public in Bindukhatta and other areas, Tiwari urged the people of this region to extend their support to the Congress candidate as the Congress party is the only party that has worked for all sections of the society.
Reminding the people of developmental works that were carried out in this region during the Congress regime, Tiwari further said that various kind of problems that people are facing today can be worked out only through development. Therefore, we appeal to you to strengthen the hands of the Congress party in the upcoming lok sabha elections, he added.
It is worth mention here that veteran Congressman Tiwari has also represented the aforesaid seat thrice in the past i.e. in 1980, 1996 and 1999. It is to note that amid allegations against incumbent K C Singh Baba for remaining absence from his constituency during the past five years, to retain the said Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency has come as challenging task this time for the Congress party , though incumbent Baba has been representing this seat for the consecutive two terms.
So perhaps keeping in view Tiwari' popularity and his contribution to the development of the region, the Congress leaders here appealed to Tiwari to campaign for the party candidate. However, it is to be seen whether the Congress party becomes able to retain this seat this time also or not.