Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddiqui met Maharashtra Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar at his residence on Tuesday and stated that although his party has been ignoring him, he has not yet decided to switch to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Siddiqui also participated in the NCP’s ‘Jan Sanman Yatra’ led by Ajit Pawar on Monday.
“Met Ajit Dada today because he is the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and I needed to discuss issues related to my constituency. I have not yet decided to join the NCP or any other party because there is still a lot of time before the elections, and the people of my constituency and my voters will decide from which party I should contest the elections,” the Congress MLA said.
Siddiqui claimed that the Congress is sidelining him and is not inviting him to party events. “Congress is sidelining me, and I’m not being invited to any party events. Two days ago, there was an event organized by Varsha Gaikwad in my constituency, and I was neither informed nor invited,” he said.
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“I was removed from the post of Mumbai Youth Congress President unceremoniously, even though it was an elected position, so it is clear that Congress is sidelining me. Today, there is a meeting of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, where they will begin their assembly poll campaign. I am an MLA of the Congress party and still, I have not been informed or invited to this event. Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress President) is a very good man, and he has family ties with ours, but he is attending the event today while I am not invited,” Siddiqui added.
The Congress MLA mentioned that these issues began after his father, former MLA Baba Siddiqui, left the Congress and joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction. “This all started when my father left Congress and joined the NCP a few months back. However, there are many instances within Congress itself where a father and son are in different parties, like AK Antony and others, yet I am the only one being targeted,” he said.
Zeeshan Siddiqui was removed from the post of Mumbai Youth Congress President in February. His father, Baba Siddiqui, quit the Congress and joined the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP in February.
Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled for later this year. The Election Commission of India has delayed the announcement of the assembly polls for Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
(WITH INPUTS FROM ANI)
