Lucknow, December 27: Following allegations against former Andhra Pradesh Governor Narain Dutt Tiwari, former party members and politicians in Uttar Pradesh, where he was Chief Minister, have reacted to the incident. Most agree that long before the veteran leader lost his wife in the early ’90s, rumours about his private life were routine in the state.
Dr Sushila Tiwari, a gynaecologist, used to be considered more as a social appendage. Senior Congress leaders recall that the relationship between husband and wife was for social purposes only and sources close to the family said she knew about his dalliances.
Veterans in the party are ready to name many women (by their surname), like Duggal or Mohini or Mishra, who were a force to reckon in the state administration during Tiwari’s stints as chief minister.
Some said that there were many complaints sent to Indira Gandhi and later to Rajiv Gandhi about Tiwari’s extramarital relationships.
In the current case, Radhika of Uttarakhand has alleged that she sent young women to the Raj Bhavan on Tiwari’s request through his aide. She has reportedly said that she was exposing him as he had failed to provide her an iron ore mining licence in Andhra Pradesh.
A senior Congress leader said, “It is only now that a woman has come to seek the help of a news channel to move against Tiwari and in the fitness of things it should be probed.” Meanwhile, a relieved Congress said Tiwari had taken the ‘appropriate decision’ of quitting and acting on ‘moral principles’, a contention ridiculed by the BJP as a bid to make a ‘virtue’ out of it, news agencies add from New Delhi.
“I think he (Tiwari) has taken the appropriate decision keeping in view the high standards of public life. We welcome it,” Congress media department chief Janardhan Dwivedi said.
The BJP slammed the Congress on the issue. “We had demanded Tiwari’s resignation because earlier also there were allegations against him in a paternity suit. In case of the high office of Governor, the veracity or otherwise of an allegation is not the only consideration.
What is important is dignity, integrity and prestige of the high constitutional office of Governor which was shamed,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
–Agencies