25 Dec 2009
With a local Telugu television channel “ABN Andhra Jyothy” telecasting the photographs of alleged sexual escapades of the octogenarian governor, women’s and other organisations and political parties have started demanding his head.
The Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad is finding itself mired in a slush with governor Narayan Dutt Tiwari’s name getting dragged in to a sex-scandal.
With a local Telugu television channel “ABN Andhra Jyothy” telecasting the photographs of alleged sexual escapades of the octogenarian governor on Friday morning, women’s and other organisations and political parties have started demanding his head.
The photos, showing an unidentified old man with three girls spread all over him on a bed, were allegedly provided to the channel by a woman Radhika in Uttaranchal, the state once ruled by ND Tiwari as the Chief Minister.
Though a division bench of Andhra Pradesh high court immediately issued an order restraining the channel from further screening of the photos, and the Raj Bhavan has also issued a denial describing the photos as “fabricated”, damage was already done.
The woman Radhika has reportedly told the channel while providing the photos that she had sent the women to Tiwari from Uttaranchal as he had promised to give them jobs.
Demonstrations by women’s groups
Several women’s organisations and other civil society groups came out demanding the sacking of Tiwari for sullying the constitutional office and Raj Bhavan. They held demonstrations in front of Raj Bhavan forcing the authorities to strengthen the security in and around the governor’s house.
There were also demonstrations in Vijaywada, Visakhapatanam, Warangal and other places condemning the alleged sexual escapades in Raj Bhavan.
The leader of the opposition, N. Chandrababu Naidu, strongly condemning the alleged unsavoury happenings in Raj Bhavan said, “the only option before Mr. Tiwari is to resign or the central government should immediately sack him”.
Naidu alleged that the involvement of a constitutional figure in such activities in Raj Bhavan had sullied the image of the constitutional office and degenerated the values and ethics in public life. “It is shocking for everybody. We have never seen such a thing in the past”, he said.
Though it was not clear from the photographs who the man was with the girls and whether it was taken in Raj Bhavan, the whole episode was being seen as highly damaging as Tiwari had already come under fire over a paternity suit filed by a young man from Uttar Pradesh in Supreme Court claiming to be son of Tiwari. He had alleged that Tiwari had relationship with his mother and he was born out of the relationship. But Tiwari had refused to undergo DNA test to prove or disprove that charge.
At the same time, the timing of the expose has also raised many an eyebrows. It came to light when the agitation for Telangana state is at its peak creating a major crisis in Andhra Pradesh. Motives are being attributed to the expose and it is being seen as an attempt to divert the attention from the fight for Telangana state, because the channel which carried the photos has the image of being against the Telangana demand.
Secondly, the allegations have come to light just a day after the intense speculations began that the central government was contemplating replacing Tiwari with comparatively younger person as Andhra Pradesh governor as precursor to the imposition of President’s rule in the state. The names of leaders like former Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandi and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh were doing rounds in the political circles here.
News Source: Gulfnews.com
