Governorship, a wish come true for Tiwari

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Finally the wish of Narayan Dutt Tiwari, a veteran of the politically most important state of Uttar Pradesh and Central politics, has been granted.

The octogenarian leader was today appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

Tiwari, who had long been expressing the desire to quit active politics, has been four times Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and several times Union Minister.

He was the Congress high command's surprise choice for the chief ministerial post in the newly-carved state of Uttarakhand, his last active political assignment.

Born on October 18 in 1925 in village Baluti of district Nainital he went to jail along with his father for participating in the freedom movement in 1942.

During his student days, Tiwari joined Congress Socialist party and in the general elections of 1952, he was elected MLA from Nainital constituency of then undivided Uttar Pradesh on the Praja Samajwadi Party ticket.

He was re-elected from the constituency in 1957 and was chosen as the leader of the opposition. Tiwari joined the Congress in 1963 and was elected an MLA on the Congress ticket from the Kashipur constituency in 1965.

The same year he was appointed Minister for Labour, Planning and Panchayati Raj under the Chief Ministership of C B Gupta but resigned after eight months along with eight other ministers.

In 1970, he was appointed the Minister for Finance and Parliamentary Affairs in the Choudhary Charan Singh government. But soon after, the Charan Singh Ministry fell and when Kamlapati Tripathi took over, Tiwari was entrusted with multiple portfolios of Finance, Industry, Irrigation, Excise, Electricity and Labour and Sugarcane development.

It was in 1976 that he first became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, a post he held thrice after in 1984, 1985 and 1988. In the elections held after the Emergency the Congress suffered a crushing defeat and his government was dismissed. But in the 1977 elections, despite the strong Janata Party wave, he was again elected on the Congress ticket from the Kashipur constituency and was elected the leader of the opposition and the leader of the Congress legislative party in the UP assembly.

In 1980, he was elected as MP from the Nainital constituency. The same year he was appointed Union Minister for Planning and the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission. In 1981 he was appointed Union Industries Minister and later, was also entrusted with the portfolios of Steel and Mines.

He also held the portfolios of Petrolium Ministry in 1986, External Affairs the same year and Finance and Commerce in 1987.

An LLB, MA (Political Science) graduate of Allahabad University, Tiwari married Sushila Selwal.

UNI