N D Tiwari shows up at BJP office with family

Senior Congress leader N D Tiwari and his family showed up at the BJP office on Wednesday, with the hope that his son Rohit Shekhar would add to the list of “outsiders” who are being welcomed by the party ahead of the February 15 Uttarakhand elections.

Tiwari, his wife Ujjwala and Shekhar met BJP chief Amit Shah at the party’s Ashoka Road headquarters.

Though Shekhar hinted at his willingness to join the BJP to start a new innings for carrying forward Tiwari’s legacy in politics, a party leader looking after media relations, neither confirmed nor denied that the duo have come on board.  “We have no instructions to officially react on Tiwari and Rohit Shekhar meeting the BJP president,” he said.

Speaking to a news agency, Shekhar took a pot shot at the Congress and said that he has left it to the BJP how to utilise their services. “In our meeting with the BJP president, we offered our support to him. It is now up to him to how to utilise us,” PTI quoted him as saying.

Tiwari is seeking ticket for Shekhar either from Almorah or Haldwani and has promised to consolidate Brahmin voters in favour of the BJP.

Expressing his disenchantment, Shekhar also said, “Have you in the last seven to eight years seen any Congress leader who’s had the decency to come and meet my father, to ask how he’s doing at least? Have you seen my father’s face on any political hoarding?”