Tiwari may have to step down as CM

If sources are to be believed, Uttaranchal Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari is set to lose his job. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is understood ...

If sources are to be believed, Uttaranchal Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari is set to lose his job.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is understood to have asked him to put in his papers when Tiwari met her today. Sources close to Tiwari, on the other hand, claimed that he would take a while to step down.

Talking to reporters at his residence later, Tiwari said he had told Sonia that if she and the Prime Minister felt there was a need for a change of leadership in the state, ‘‘I will have no objection to it’’. When asked about Sonia’s response to the same, the Chief Minister informed that the party president merely said she would consider it. ‘‘I am a party worker and am willing to serve the party in whichever manner the high command wants to utilise my services,’’ he said.

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If left to himself, Tiwari would certainly like to move over to the Centre as a senior minister. And a senior Brahmin leader, rooted in UP politics, would be a natural aspirant for prime ministership. This would obviously add to the problems of high command which already has to contend with two ambitious politicians — Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh.

Therefore, Tiwari’s next parking slot is likely to be a Raj Bhawan — either Mumbai or Jaipur, say sources.

Maharashtra Governor Mohammad Fazal is due to complete his term on November 26. Rajasthan Governor Madan Lal Khurana has already bowed out of office to return to active Delhi politics.

The impending exit of Tiwari spells danger for Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. Tiwari is the second CM to account for the Congress defeat in Lok Sabha Sabha polls (three out of four seats) after A.K.Antony (in Kerala). Singh’s ouster, feel sources, will be only a matter of time. The Congress lost 11 of the 13 seats in Punjab. Though Singh has been on the wrong side of the high command ever since he cancelled river water-sharing agreements with neighbouring states, it would be prudent for the high command to link any move against him with Lok Sabha poll reverses.

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Along with Tiwari, two senior leaders, Bansi Lal and Buta Singh, are tipped for gubernatorial assignments. Lal has indicated to the Congress leadership that being asthmatic, he would not like to serve in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Sonia met Uttaranchal Congress president Harish Rawat, former Union minister Satpal Maharaj and Mahila Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Rawat, Maharaj, state PWD Minister Indira Hridyesh, Tourism Minister T.P.S. Rawat and Assembly Speaker Yashpal Arya are all strong contenders for the Uttaranchal top job.