Tracing the rise and fall of Vinay Shankar Tiwari: From famed Hata to landing in Enforcement Directorate net

The rise and fall of Vinay Shankar Tiwari, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for bank loan fraud and money laundering, spanned his behind the curtains involvement in Lucknow University students’ politics to his stint as an MLA from Chillupar and his bid to carry forward the legacy of his father the late Hari Shankar Tiwari, a eastern UP strongman and six-time former MLA.

Vinay Shankar Tiwari took the plunge into electoral politics in 2008 by joining the BSP and contesting the Lok Sabha bypoll on the party ticket against Samajwadi Party candidate Neeraj Shekhar from Ballia but lost by over 1,31,286 votes.

In his second attempt in the 2009 general election, he contested on a BSP ticket against the then sitting MP of Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath but lost by a margin of over 2,20,271 votes.

After successive failures, Tiwari won the 2017 assembly poll from Chillupar assembly constituency on the BSP ticket. He defeated Rajesh Tripathi.

Before the 2022 assembly poll, Tiwari joined the Samajwadi Party but lost to Rajesh Tripathi.

Tiwari’s blind faith and over-reliance on close relative and business associate Ajit Pandey proved his undoing, according to those who have access to the famed ‘Tiwari Hata’ in Gorakhpur.

At one point of time, Vinay Shankar Tiwari was about to join the BJP with the blessings of a Lucknow-based senior leader of the party but it did not happen after the CBI registered a case against Gangotri Enterprises in February 2020 under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Tiwari’s friendship with a former Lucknow University Students’ Union president and their relationship turning sour later is also much talked about.

Vinay Shankar’s elder brother Bheeshma Shankar Tiwari alias Kushal Tiwari won the Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha seat in a 2008 bypoll and the 2009 general election as the BSP candidate on both occasions.

Vinay Shankar Tiwari tried to carry forward the legacy of his father Hari Shankar Tiwari, who died on May 16, 2023, in the Chillupar assembly constituency.

Hari Shankar Tiwari was a cabinet minister in five consecutive state governments and a key figure in eastern UP politics between 1985 and 2022.

Hari Shankar Tiwari’s political journey began in 1985 when he was elected MLA from Chillupar while incarcerated under the National Security Act. He succeeded veteran Congress leader Bhir Ghunath Chaturvedi, who handed over his political legacy to him.

From 1985 to 2002, Hari Shankar Tiwari won the Chillupar seat without fail.

He also became a founding member of the Loktantrik Congress Party and played a pivotal role in forming the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government in 1998, arranging support from 10 MLAs. He served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh, Mayawati, and Mulayam Singh Yadav between 1997 and 2007.

The Tiwari family is also related to a former minister in the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and a Shiv Sena leader in Maharashtra.