Mumbai:
Zeeshan Siddique, son of ex-Maharashtra minister and three-time Congress MLA Baba Siddiqui – who was shot dead earlier this month – joined the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party Friday morning, days before the state votes in an Assembly election.
Mr Siddique, 32, had been expelled by the Congress in August after cross-voting in a legislative council election. He will now defend the Vandre (East) seat he won in 2019 with his former party.
His primary opponent will be Varun Sardesai, the nephew of ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose Shiv Sena faction is allied with the Congress, and the Sharad Pawar NCP, as part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
In his first comment after joining the Pawar NCP, Mr Siddique hit out at the MVA, accusing them of abandoning him after his father’s murder. “This is an emotional day for me and my family. I am thankful to Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel, and Sunil Tatkare for believing in me in these tough times.”
“I have got the nomination from Vandre (East), I am sure that with the love and support of all the people, I will definitely win Bandra East ye again…” Mr Siddique told reporters.
Mr Siddique had slammed the Congress on Thursday after the MVA named another politician as its Vandre (East) candidate. “I heard old friends have announced their candidates from Vandre East. Supporting was never in their nature,” he said in a caustic post on X.
“Maintain relations with those who give respect, no point in surrounding yourself with a crowd, now the people will decide,” he wrote in early clues he would soon fly under a different political banner.
The Vandre East seat went to Uddhav Thackeray’s party as part of the MVA seat-share deal; the Thackeray Sena, Sharad Pawar NCP, and Congress will contest 85 seats in the November 20 election.
The remaining 33 seats will be divided among smaller parties.
Baba Siddiqui, 66, was shot dead outside his son’s office in Bandra on October 12. Fourteen people have been arrested so far as police probe different angles to establish the motive.
The former Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Baba Siddiqui was the Congress MLA from the formerly undivided Vandre seat for two terms. The seat was bifurcated in 2008, after which he represented Vandre (West) for a third term. Earlier this year, too he quit the Congress and joined Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction.
