N.D. Tiwari's family 'shocked' over his joining BJP

New Delhi, Jan 18: Former Congress veteran N.D. Tiwari's family on Wednesday expressed disappointment and shock over his joining the Bharatiya Janata Party and alleged the decision was being "made for him".

"I would like to inform everyone that the family is extremely disappointed. In fact shocked, at the developments regarding N.D. Tiwari," his nephew, Manishi Tiwari, said in a statement issued here.

Narayan Dutt Tiwari joined the BJP along with his son Rohit Shekhar on Wednesday, ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Manishi Tiwari asserted that their family was a "longstanding Congress family of freedom fighters and we have reason to believe that Tiwariji would never desert the Congress party on his own volition".

Alleging that the decision was being forced on him, Manishi Tiwari said: "We strongly believe that these decisions are being made for him, by others, keeping in mind their own interests and agendas. Either way, we members of the Tiwari family, do not endorse this move at all and see ourselves as eternally part of the Indian National Congress."

The only one to have been the Chief Minister of both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, N.D. Tiwari, 91, had also been a cabinet minister and held key portfolios.