Is Tiwari a Congress member? Party is confused

New Delhi, Dec 29: Is disgraced former Andhra Pradesh Governor N.D. Tiwari still a Congress member? The party does not seem to know.

Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said it was a convention that a person ceases to be member of a political party once he is named a governor.

"The day a person is appointed governor, he does not remain a member of a political party," Ahmed told IANS, adding he was not speaking from the strict legal point of view.

He added: "A lawyer can be a member of a political party. But once he is appointed a judge, he becomes apolitical."

Ahmed said Tiwari would have to fill the membership form afresh if he wanted to return to the Congress. "It will then be the party's decision to accept his membership or not."

Another party leader, B.K. Hariprasad, had a different view. "He is still a member of the party," the Rajya Sabha MP told IANS.

A Congress leader who has been a former governor said on the condition of anonymity that it was not mandatory for a governor to resign his party membership though he should not behave in a partisan manner.

"I can't say if Tiwari is still a party member. We will get to know it during the party's organisational elections next year," he said.

Tiwari quit as governor over the weekend following allegations of his involvement in a sex romp. He has called the allegations "baseless".

Constitutional expert Subash C. Kashyap said there was no bar on a governor continuing as a member of a political party. Another expert, P.P. Rao, agreed.

Tiwari, one of the best known faces of the Congress, has been a chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and has also held several senior cabinet posts in the central government.