ND Tiwari visits Uttarakhand BJP headquarters

Close on the heels of sharing a dais with chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank and other senior BJP leaders, veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari paid a surprise visit to the Uttarakhand BJP headquarters to extend New Year greetings.

The 85-year-old leader has been living in the city ever since he quit as the Andhra Pradesh governor over an alleged sex scandal more than a year ago.

Tiwari yesterday stayed for a few minutes at the BJP office where there were none except office-in-charge Urvadutt Bhatt.

He talked to Bhatt and asked him to convey his New year greetings to other party leaders and workers.

When asked to comment over the visit, BJP state president Bishan Singh Chufal only said that Tiwari is a veteran leader and he had no prior information of the latter's visit to party office.

Tiwari is considered close to senior BJP leaders like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani.

Political observers, however, did not see any political meaning of the visit and said the veteran leader had already announced his retirement from active politics.

Tiwari had also recently surprised people by sharing a dais with chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank and other senior BJP leaders at a function marking the formation day of Uttarakhand.