ND Tewari backs Rajnath

Veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Narain Dutt Tiwari, created a flutter on Saturday by extending support to Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, who is contesting from the lucknow parliamentary seat.

"Woh Raja hain (he is a great)... He came today... samarthan toh hoga hi (he will have my support)," Tiwari, 88, said after meeting Rajnath Singh at his residence here.The veteran Congress leader opted out of contest after being denied ticket from Nainital in Uttarakhand.The BJP chief, who touched the Congressman's feet and sought his blessings, said, "When I made my first speech after being elected to the Vidhan Sabha in UP for the first time... he (Tiwari) came to me and said you are the future of this state."

It was a clever political move by Rajnath Singh to seek Tiwari's blessings as over two lakh Uttarakhandis and as many Brahmins in lucknow are a deciding force. The Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party have fielded three strong Brahmin candidates -- UPCC ex-president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, former minister in Mayawati government Nakul Dubey and ex-faculty member of IIM and state minister Abhishek Mishra respectively.

Tiwari, who had moved close to the Samajwadi Party nowadays has ultimately shifted to the BJP. SP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said that during election season such thing happen and there was nothing new in it.The veteran, who has accused the Congress of "neglecting" him after despite his 60-year service to the party as a loyal soldier, had expressed his annoyance earlier this week by backing former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, who is the BJP candidate from Nainital.