By IANS,
New Delhi: A day after being disowned by the Samajwadi Party (SP) for interviewing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, former MP Shahid Siddiqui Sunday hit back at his old party, saying it was feeling “extremely frustrated” at losing support in Uttar Pradesh.
“Samajwadi Party is extremely frustrated in Uttar Pradesh. It is losing grip. Muslims are losing faith in SP,” Siddiqui told NDTV Sunday.
Siddiqui’s remarks came a day after SP distanced itself from him and said he had long ago quit the party and was not even a primary member.
The SP’s stand on Siddiqui came in the wake of his interview of Modi for his Urdu newspaper “Nai Duniya”. Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said Saturday that Siddiqui had left the party long back and joined Bahujan Samaj Party and later the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Siddiqui said Sunday that he had always fought against communalism.
“Instead of hanging Modi, they (SP) hanged me,” he said.
Noting some riots had occurred in Uttar Pradesh in the past few months, he alleged that the SP had taken action against him to “show (it to be) pro-Muslim.”
Siddiqui claimed SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav gained credibility “because people like me joined him”.
He however had a word of praise for his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
“He is well meaning. He is very, very decent person,” Siddiqui said.
However, answering a query, Siddiqui gave the SP government only five points on a scale of ten.
Earlier, Siddiqui had said that action against him by SP was “an “attack on the freedom of press”.
He said he had rejoined the party earlier this year and the SP was not helping its cause by “telling lies”.
In the interview, Modi told Siddiqui that he would not apologise for the 2002 riots in Gujarat and he would rather prefer to be hanged if found guilty for the violence.
The statement was seen as an effort by Modi for an image makeover by reaching out to the Muslim voters.