ND Tiwari’s son visits Congress office, but mum on joining

LUCKNOW: Late UP chief minister N D Tiwari’s son Rohit Shekhar, whose legal battle for acceptance had involved emotional arguments for several years, on Wednesday sidestepped his visit to Congress headquarters in Delhi but agreed that he would not mind taking up a political role in future to fortify his father’s legacy.
“It was a routine visit to the Congress headquarters. I have been going there quite regularly since last few years. Joining or contesting is a mere speculation at the moment, but I would certainly want to take keep my father’s legacy he left behind considering the mega projects he launched from Noida to Lucknow to Uttarakhand,” Rohit told TOI. He skirted queries whether he was eyeing a Lok Sabha berth from Uttarakhand or Uttar Pradesh.

The 40-year-old advocate insisted that he was moved by the gesture of the Gandhi family when both UPA chairperson Sonia and Congress president Rahul Gandhi visited the family on Tiwari’s funeral last year.

“We were strengthened by the gesture shown by the senior Congress leaders when Soniaji embraced my mother and held her arm. Even though I am yet to recover form the loss of my father since last 15 months I spent inside a hospital with him, I still get goosebumps on their presence inside our home,” he said.

He insisted that he has not severed his ties with the Samajwadi Party even as he has moved on after a brief stint as advisor to then Akhilesh Yadav government in 2015.

“I have no malice towards anyone. In fact, not just Akhileshji or Mulayamji, even BJP in Lucknow organised an event to pay tribute to my father when they flew his body and kept it in front of the Vidhan Sabha for followers and friends,” he said.