Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and senior Congress leader ND Tiwari, who as a shrewd politician played Brahamin-Thakur political card in the Himalayan State better than anyone else, has turned out to be a bit philosophical during his recent visit of this Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency.
Brushing aside the chances of caste or regional politics during his interactions with his supporters in this lok Sabha constituency in which Nainital district also happens to be his home town, Tiwari now wishes to forget all such things that created controversy in his political life as he has tried to put an end to the long drawn paternal matter controversy by acknowledging Rohit Shekhar as his son.Due to the same caste politics, veteran Tiwari and Chief Minister Harish Rawat could not go along in the State politics despite both of them belonging to the same Kumaon division and to the same party.
More so, Chief Minister Rawat's supporters even today do not rule out Tiwari's hand in Chief Minister Rawat's consecutive defeats in the Almora-Pithoagarh parliamentary constituency before he moved to Haridwar in 2009.More so, by bringing Satpal Maharaj closer to him during his political days, Tiwari also tried to upset Rawat's political equations in State politics.
Now interestingly, as father of his son Rohit, the veteran Congressman has neither Tiwari stresses on development, in no mood for controversy openly offered his candidature from the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar lok Sabha seat, nor has he put forward his son's name as candidate from the said lok Sabha seat.
He has rather cleverly downplayed the question of who will contest the elections, saying it is the people who will decide whether "me or my son would contest the parliamentary elections."The matter of fact is that Tiwari has declared Rohit Shekhar as his political heir. Both Rohit Shekhar and his mother Ujjawala Sharma are accompanying Tiwari on his visit to Nainital district.
However, Tiwari during his visit here has reiterated his wish for development of the region, saying progress of the region is must irrespective of the party politics. His supporters could also be seen lauding his efforts for area development.