In loss, Tiwari sees a silver lining

In 1990, he left studies and joined BJP’s Ekta Yatra and later completed his graduation from the Calcutta University in 2003. He got married when he was in the third year of his degree course. His father, a Railway employee, reluctantly gave consent for Ritesh to join politics but his mother wanted him to lead a “normal life”.

“Now, my wife strongly opposes me getting into politics and often asks why can’t I return home in the evening like normal people. During the elections, I returned home once after eight days, which irritated her even further.” he recounts.

Tech-savvy Ritesh was active on social networking sites long before his party started laying emphasis on it. “I connect to the public in general through these and find it a very effective medium of one-to-one interaction. But I do not resort to personal attacks on these platforms,” he said.