Veteran leader ND Tiwari bids adieu on birthday

Veteran politician Narayan Datt Tiwari, who served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, governor of Andhra Pradesh and came close to even becoming the Prime Minister, died at a Delhi hospital on Thursday after suffering from multiple organ failure. It happened to be his 93rd birthday.

ND Tiwari had the distinction to serve as the chief minister of both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Born on October 18, 1925, Tiwari was three-time CM of Uttar Pradesh and the first elected CM of Uttarakhand from 2002-2007 — the only CM to complete a full five-year term.

Tiwari was the Governor of Andhra Pradesh for two years. He had to resign in 2009 amid embarrassment for the Congress after allegations of a sex scandal against him.

Another controversy that rocked Tiwari's career was paternity suit filed by Rohit Shekhar Tiwari in 2008, claiming ND Tiwari to be his biological father. ND Tiwari kept denying it until the Delhi high court ordered DNA mapping and after the release of the DNA test results in 2012 established that Tiwari was indeed the biological father. On March 3, 2014, Tiwari accepted Rohit Shekhar as his son.

Tiwari also held the important portfolio of external affairs from October 1986 to July 1987 and the became the union minister for finance and commerce, which he held till June 1988. Tiwari was also a key contender for the post of PM that went to PV Narasimha Rao in 1994.