Congress veteran ND Tiwari endorses Rajnath

Wary of a possible ‘fickle swing’ of Brahmin voters, especially considering the presence of strong Congress and the Samajwadi Party leaders in Lucknow, BJP president Rajnath Singh on Saturday rushed to meet senior Congress leader ND Tiwari to make his presence strong in his constituency.

Sources said Rajnath is getting mild response from Brahmin voters and fearing a negative result in the Lok Sabha poll, the BJP president met Tiwari to seek his blessings. The move, many feel, might consolidate a sizeable percentage of Brahmin votes in favour of him.

Interestingly, Tiwari also expressed his support for Rajnath Singh. In last 24 hours, political equations in the country have seen major shifts. On one side, prime minister Manmohan Singh’s stepbrother Daljit joined the BJP, on the other Rajnath met Tiwari in the middle of the general election.

Rajnath touched Tiwari’s feet and sought his blessings. On his way out, he told reporters: ‘When I made my first speech after being elected to the Vidhan Sabha in UP for the first time, he (Tiwari) came up to me and said that I am the future of this state.’

The worries for Rajnath are the Congress and the Samajwadi Party who have fielded two strong Brahmin leaders including former state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and former IIM faculty member Abhishek Mishra respectively against the BJP party president.

Since Tiwari is a veteran Brahmin Congress leader and the BJP expects his (Tiwari’s) blessing might help him in wooing Brahmin voters.

Tiwari was annoyed with Congress leaders for neglecting him despite serving the party for more than 60 years. His relation with the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi turned bitter after he was denied ticket from Nainital in Uttarakhand. Earlier, he expressed his anger with the Congress central leadership by supporting former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, who is now the BJP’s candidate from Nainital.

On the context of his meeting with the BJP President, Tiwari said, ‘Woh Raja hain (he is Raja). He came today. Samarthan toh hoga hi (he will have my support).