Prominent Muslim leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the presence of party president Akhilesh Yadav here on Sunday.
Akhilesh Yadav accompanied Siddiqui to the SP office here and inducted him into the party. Naseemuddin, a four-time state minister in the Mayawati cabinet and a founding member of the BSP, had resigned from the Congress on January 24 last.
The SP president gave party membership to Siddiqui and other leaders who joined the party.
Yadav welcomed Siddiqui by garlanding him and presented him with a portrait of Ahilyabai along with a memento. Siddiqui’s wife also joined the party on the occasion.
Upon joining the Samajwadi Party, Siddiqui told reporters, “I have a long-standing relationship with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and hold him in great respect. We will follow the path he shows us. There are many senior leaders in the party, and we must work shoulder to shoulder with them to strengthen it. If the party is strong, we will be strong; if we are strong, the state will be strong; and if the state is strong, society will be strong.”
Following Azam Khan’s continued imprisonment, the party lacked a grassroots Muslim leader. According to political analysts, this could benefit the SP.
Others who joined the party included former Pratapgar MLA Rajkumar, former Deoria MLA Dinanath Kushwaha, former UP minister Anees Ahmed alias Phool Babu, and Danish Khan, who was associated with the AIMIM. Among the women leaders were Rachna Pal, Husna Siddiqui, Poonam Pal, and Alka, who took party membership along with several other workers.
Siddiqui, who began his political career with the BSP, served as a cabinet minister in the Mayawati government. He is considered a prominent Muslim political figure in Uttar Pradesh. After Azam Khan’s imprisonment, the Samajwadi Party lacked a Muslim leader of comparable stature, a gap the party hopes to fill with Siddiqui’s induction.
While resigning from the Congress, Naseemuddin Siddiqui said, “I had joined the Congress to fight communalism, but I have not been able to work on the ground for the past eight years and was beginning to feel restive. I hold Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Sonia Gandhi in high regard and will continue to respect them, but there was no meaningful work for me in the party. I had joined the Congress party to fight communalism, but that was no longer happening.”
UP Congress president Ajay Rai tried to persuade him to stay, but he refused. Speculation was rife whether he would join another party or pursue independent politics. There was also talk of him joining Chandrashekhar’s Azad Samaj Party, but he put an end to speculation by deciding to join the Samajwadi Party.