Naseemuddin Siddiqui expelled: Charges against me apply to Mayawati too, says ousted MLC

Lucknow: Hours after Naseemuddin Siddique and his son Afzal were shown the door by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the ousted MLC said, “Whatever charges have been levelled against me, applies to her (Mayawati) and I can prove those with evidence”. [caption id=“attachment_1224313” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Naseemuddin Siddiqui. IBN Live.[/caption] BSP General Secretary and Rajya Sabha member S C Mishra said, “Naseemuddin and his son Afzal have been expelled from the party. He has a partnership in a number of slaughter houses and ‘benami’ properties in his name. He also took money during assembly polls due to which party had to suffer defeat”. Naseemuddin, who hails from Banda, was earlier removed as the party in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and was appointed as the MP unit in-charge after the Assembly poll debacle. Recalling his ties with BSP founder Kashiram, Naseemuddin said, “I was associated with his ideology for over three decades. For the sake of the party, I did not even visit my ailing daughter who died due to lack of treatment as Mayawati wanted my services during elections and did not permit me to go for her self-interest.” Holding Mayawati’s “wrong policies” responsible for BSP’s poor performance in 2009 and 2014 (Lok Sabha), 2012 and 2017 (UP Assembly), he alleged that the BSP chief levelled “false and misleading” allegations against Muslims and also made objectionable comments against them, especially in the 2017 polls. BSP supremo Mayawati had carried out a major organisational rejig after the Assembly polls and launched her brother Anand Kumar in active politics making him the party’s vice-president. With a view to revamp her party, Mayawati had also dissolved the existing team of zonal, divisional and district coordinators and brotherhood committees set up to woo different castes and communities like Brahmins, Thakur and Muslims. After the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in which BSP failed to open its account, the BSP again suffered a humiliating defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections where the party had managed to secure only 19 seats out of the total 403 seats. Taking a jibe at the expulsion of Naseemuddin, BJP alleged that he was merely playing the role of a “cashier”, while the real “trader of Dalit votes” was Mayawati. The Samajwadi Party and Congress, however, termed the expulsion as “an internal matter of BSP”. “Senior BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui was merely playing the role of a cashier, while real trader of Dalit votes was BSP chief Mayawati. A number of BSP leaders who had left the BSP have levelled this allegation on BSP chief,” UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said. “The desperation shown by Mayawati after demonetisation goes on to prove her lust for money. Naseemuddin has been simply made a scapegoat.” Throwing an open challenge to Mayawati, he said, “The BSP supremo must tell the people that on whose instructions did Naseemuddin extort money and where the money has actually gone.” “Had the BSP chief expelled Naseemuddin after he made derogatory remarks on Swati Singh (now UP minister) and her daughter, the people of the state would not have handed this defeat to BSP,” he said. SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, “The expulsion of Naseemuddin Siddqui is an internal matter of BSP.” UP Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi spoke in the same refrain. “Both Mayawati and Naseemuddin should tell the truth. Even if they refuse to tell the truth, it will gradually come out in the public domain in coming days,” the PCC leader said.