Dehra Dun : Former Andhra Pradesh governor Narayan Dutt Tiwari, once known to be the strong man of the Congress party and a likely candidate for the post of prime minister, finds himself isolated today, despite the fact that he has been the chief minister of Uttarakhand and the elections to the state vidhan sabha are just about three months away.
It was generally being anticipated that the veteran 86 year old Congress leader, who stays here in the state headquarters, would be taken into confidence in the matter of distribution of tickets and the strategy to be adopted by the party in tackling the ruling BJP at the hustings.
However, this is not to be. After the Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhawan incident after which Tiwari had to quit his gubernatorial assignment, the former chief minister of both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand finds himself isolated. Though senior leaders of both the BJP and the Congress visit Tiwari as a courtesy, he is not being taken into confidence over party matters of Uttarakhand.
With the message having percolated down the rank and file of the party, most of the party ticket seekers for the coming vidhan sabha elections, who would have been thronging Tiwari’s house here, are conspicuous by their absence. Obviously the message is that hanging around with the former Andhra governor will not be of much help.
In fact some of the state Congress leaders, who were said to be close to Tiwari when he was chief minister of Uttarakhand have also preferred to make new connections and join other factions. This is perhaps why the veteran leader finds himself isolated, though he often visits various projects to see how they are going, to remain in the news.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
