Mumbai: Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddiqui attacked his party from the stage of rival Ajit Pawar-led NCP, saying Monday that his own party men had tried to stop him from working in his constituency, but Deputy Chief Minister Pawar had always “helped”.
Siddiqui claimed it was difficult to get funds for his constituency Bandra East ever since he was elected in 2021. “I was told this is the chief minister’s area and nobody could do anything. At that time too, Ajit Pawar had helped me out,” Zeeshan said.
Incidentally, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is a resident of Bandra East, who lost power in 2022 because of a coup in his party. Majority of Sena leaders formed the next government with the BJP, which was further strengthened by Ajit Pawar’s entry last year.
Attending Pawar’s “Jan Samman Yatra” Monday, Zeeshan said with the people’s support, he would become MLA once again from Bandra East. In a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, Zeeshan said: “Some people only talk about ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ but mohabbat should be in our hearts.”
The remarks, and where they were made, are being seen as a signal of Siddiqui’s growing disenchantment with his party’s leadership, and also his fear of being denied a ticket from his constituency.
The Vandre East MLA’s father Baba Siddique, a Congress old hand, had defected to the Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in February.
Zeeshan has been under scrutiny by the Congress since last month’s legislative council (MLC) polls, where six to seven Congress MLAs cross-voted, leading to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) losing a seat. The MVA includes the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction. Since Zeeshan had skipped a meeting called by the party ahead of the MLC polls, fingers were solidly pointed at him.
Zeeshan, however, has denied he is joining Pawar. “I am very much in the Congress. This rally is to thank Ajit Pawar for the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’ which has benefitted around 20,000 women in my constituency,” he told ThePrint.
He, however, added that he “did not feel the need” to inform the party leadership about his decisions as they, too, have kept him away from “meetings and rallies in his constituency”, Zeeshan told ThePrint.
For several weeks, Mumbai Congress President Varsha Gaikwad had taken out rallies and meetings in his constituency but he was neither invited nor informed, he said.
“I believe the message is loud and clear,” said Zeeshan, adding that a few days ago, the Congress office had even refused to give his representative a nomination form.
ThePrint reached Gaikwad as well as Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar via calls. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
According to political analyst Hemant Desai, though, this isn’t surprising.
“Ajit Pawar is trying to build a base among Muslims in Mumbai and with Baba Siddique in his camp, there is not much left for Zeeshan in the Congress. So, for him, this is a win-win situation,” Desai said. “Also, with speculation about Zeeshan cross-voting, it was anyway going to be difficult for him to get a ticket from the Congress.”
Last July, Ajit Pawar had broken away from his uncle and joined the ruling Mahayuti coalition of the Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena and the BJP.
ThePrint had asked Congress’s central leader K.C. Venugopal whether disciplinary action would be taken against lawmakers who cross-voted and whether they would be denied tickets, to which he had said, “Action has been taken against the MLAs who cross-voted and you will see the result in the future. Discipline is very important.”
Also read: Multiple parties, trust deficit: Why ‘meet and greets’ are making waves in Maharashtra politics
‘Rampant communalism within Congress’
After Baba Siddique joined Ajit Pawar camp in February, Zeeshan was removed from his post as Youth Congress president.
He has also said Congress only provides lip service to Muslims and that there was rampant communalism within the party.
“The Congress claims to be with the minorities. But no Muslim leader has ever been the president of the Mumbai Congress. The Congress claims to protect Muslims, but the kind of communalism raging within the Congress, and within the Youth Congress, is not seen anywhere else,” he had said at a press conference earlier this year.
He alleged when he wanted to meet Rahul Gandhi during the first leg of the “Bharat Jodo Yatra”, he was asked to come back after “losing 10 kg of weight”.
Even when the MVA was in power, he had differences with then undivided Shiv Sena leader and MLC Anil Parab.
A couple of weeks ago, the Mumbai Police registered a case against Zeeshan and seven others for obstructing Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) officials from carrying out a survey in Bandra. At that time, he had accused Anil Parab — now Sena UBT MLC — of fighting “for the builder and against the people”.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)