Jolt for SP as its minority face slams deal, to join BSP

Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui’s decision to join the BSP does not augur well for the SP even in the post-trust vote scenario...

Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui’s decision to join the BSP does not augur well for the SP even in the post-trust vote scenario, as he had been the party’s minority face on TV channels and at a time when the party faces the challenge of selling the nuclear deal and the new alliance to its minority vote bank.

“The nuclear deal is not good for the country. Since the nuclear deal is not in the national interest, it also cannot be in the interests of the Muslims of the country,” he said after his meeting with Mayawati on Saturday.

“There was pressure on me from the Urdu-speaking people of my community (Muslims). What would I respond to them if I support the deal? I am the one who had held Bush’s hand and told him that India will not accept the deal,” he said.

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Though Siddiqui was known not to be in favour of the deal, he had let it be known that he had made “peace with himself” after the SP’s decision to support the deal by rationalising that he had “no other political option”. On Saturday, however, he found the option. “I have come here with my own conscience. I will definitely join the BSP. Under the leadership of Behenji (Mayawati) I will struggle for the welfare of Dalits-Muslims and sarvajan samaj,” he said.

Siddiqui’s Rajya Sabha tenure was coming to an end later this year and the SP had planned not to field him. He was reportedly asked by the SP leadership to choose a constituency and plan for contesting the general elections.

However, the BSP chief denied any deal with Siddiqui. “When the SP and the Congress are getting into a deal behind the nuclear deal, Shahid Siddiqui has come to the BSP for its stand on the nuclear deal. He has come here without any self-interests,” said Mayawati.

Siddiqui’s Turnaround on N-deal

July 19, 2008

“For the last one month, I have been feeling uneasy over the nuclear deal. I am of the opinion that it is not in the national interest. I have been opposing it for the last three years.”

July 17, 2008

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“I have always been for the deal. We think India has reached a stage where we can confidently deal with the US. And we were never against nuclear energy.”

On Muslim support for the deal

July 3, 2008

“Dubbing the nuclear deal anti-Muslim and communal is wrong, and those who are using these terms are themselves anti-Muslim.”

July 17, 2008

Siddiqui’s newspaper Nai Dunia conducted a survey which reported that 70 per cent of Muslims are against the nuclear deal. “The survey was planned earlier. Unfortunately, it coincided with this nuclear deal issue and it was blown up,” he said.