Two days after the Congress announced its candidate for the Nainital LS seat, a miffed ND Tiwari returned to Lucknow after being on tour of the constituency with his son Rohit Sekhar.
Tewari has staked claim for the party ticket but the Congress announced its sitting MP KC Singh ‘Baba’ from the seat. Tiwari was also thinking of seeking Samajwadi Party (SP) support in case he made his mind to contest the polls. But he never made his intention clear. However, the SP too has now made it clear that it is in no mood to withdraw candidate from the election scene.
“Our candidate is Avtar Singh. There is no question of withdrawing him for other (Tiwari) candidate. Tiwariji in fact never hinted that he is interested in contesting election. Now it is too late,” Dr SS Sachan, SP president of Uttarakhand unit told HT.
With this Tiwari has been left out with no option other than contest as an independent.
In the last few days the octogenarian Congress leader has been touring the parliamentary constituency with his biological son Rohit Sekhar and his mother Ujjawala.
{{/usCountry}}In the last few days the octogenarian Congress leader has been touring the parliamentary constituency with his biological son Rohit Sekhar and his mother Ujjawala.
{{/usCountry}}Tiwari spent his time both in Nainital and Udhamssingh Nagar districts - that falls in the parliamentary constituency. Once termed as stronghold of Tiwari, the political dynamics in the constituency has changed in the last one decade. During his visit to Khatima, a town in Udhamsingh Nagar district, the leader asked journalists whether he should contest.
In fact, the sitting Congress MP ‘Baba’ is seen as Tiwari’s protégé. In the changed political dynamics - Tiwari has been distanced in the Congress politics and therefore his large follower base has also shrunk considerably.
It is learnt that Tiwari has been enjoying the hospitality of SP government in Uttar Pradesh for more than a year. SP sources disclosed that sometime back Tiwari had demanded a ticket for his nephew Manishi but the SP president Mulayam Singh politely denied saying that Manishi lacked the desired political maturity.
Nonetheless in the dramatic turn of events, Tiwari accepted Rohit as his biological son and Manishi went into oblivion. During his recent tour, the father and son duo tried to feel the pulse of the voters.
“Tiwariji is a senior leader. He has seen enough humiliation and now why he should look for more humiliation,” asked a Congress leader from Haldwani, who says Tiwari has no more future in election.