The ten-time arrest and long-term imprisonment of Azam Khan, 77, an MLA and one of many founding leaders of the Samajwadi Get together (SP), has created a vacuum in Uttar Pradesh’s primary opposition social gathering.
In an try to fill the vacuum left within the SP’s Muslim management forward of the 2027 meeting polls, social gathering president Akhilesh Yadav seems to have turned to Naseemuddin Siddiqui, a long-time state legislator and former cupboard minister. He has been with the Bahujan Samaj Get together (BSP) for over three a long time and was within the Congress for eight years earlier than becoming a member of the SP on February 15.
In November final 12 months, virtually two months after he was launched from jail, Azam Khan was despatched again to jail after a particular courtroom for MPs and MLAs in Rampur sentenced him to seven years in jail in a forgery case involving two PAN playing cards. The courtroom additionally sentenced his son, former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan, to seven years in jail in the identical case.
Azam Khan, who based the SP with late patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, is the tallest Muslim chief within the social gathering and one in all UP’s most distinguished minorities. He held ministerial posts in all SP governments beneath Mulayam and even after the reins of the social gathering had been handed over to his son Akhilesh, Khan’s affect remained steadfast.
When the SP got here to energy in UP beneath Akhilesh in 2012, Khan was assigned eight ministries and was thought of the social gathering’s strongest chief after Akhilesh. Opposition events typically say that CM Akhilesh’s authorities had “a number of chief ministers” together with Mr Mulayam, his brother Shivpal Yadav, his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav and Mr Khan. Beneath the SP authorities, Rampur, Khan’s stronghold, was thought of the second heart of energy after Lucknow and Etawah, the stronghold of the Yadav household.
Like Khan, Siddiqui enjoys comparable affect inside the BSP as a distinguished face of the minority and was thought of the ‘quantity two’ in Mayawati’s cupboard throughout his final authorities from 2007 to 2012.
When requested about Siddiqui’s significance to the SP in comparison with Khan, a senior social gathering official mentioned, “Siddiqui has been near the SP management for a very long time. If he doesn’t take over as SP, the present state authorities might be defeated in the course of the parliamentary marketing campaign for the 2027 meeting polls. “We thought that we would increase the issues of Muslims strongly beneath this coverage. That would shift a few of our Muslim votes to our allies. Proper now, Muslims are overwhelmingly in favor of the SP. But we aren’t.” I wished to search out a gap, so I employed Siddiqui. ”
Initially, SP leaders mentioned the SP faction was hesitant about Siddiqui’s appointment citing his “dramatic departure” from the BSP in 2017. After the BSP’s rout within the 2017 meeting polls, Mayawati claimed that he had demanded Rs 500 crore from her, prompting the BSP chief to expel him from the social gathering for “anti-party actions” and label him an “document blackmailer”. The audio clips had been “edited” to incriminate her. The subsequent day, he launched seven audio clips accusing Mayawati of demanding cash from ticket seekers.
“The discharge of the audio clip was like a betrayal inside the BSP management which had given him nice significance and energy within the authorities and the social gathering. The view was debated inside the SP. Nonetheless, the highest management determined to rent Mr. Siddiqui as a result of “He has a following amongst Muslims in Bundelkhand and Awadh area and he’s a widely known face. He has joined the SP together with many influential leaders of the Muslim group. He might be helpful to the SP,” a senior SP official mentioned.
On filling Mr Khan’s emptiness, one other SP chief mentioned, “Azam Sahab at all times tried to rule inside the social gathering and make his affect felt.Even when the SP was in energy, he typically received indignant, missed conferences and requested the social gathering management to do issues earlier than him.” He pressured them to bow down. Mr. Siddiqui will not be as common as Mr. Azam, however he won’t ever attempt to dominate him. In his induction speech, Mr. Siddiqui asserted that he and the opposite members who will be a part of him will function ‘juniors’ within the social gathering.” social gathering. ”
Siddiqui began his political profession in Bundelkhand’s Banda district, the place he was first elected from the Banda Meeting seat in 1991 and served as a minister within the BSP governments in 1995, 1997 and 2002. His affect peaked in the course of the BSP majority tenure from 2007 to 2012, when he was thought of one of the crucial highly effective ministers.
In 2018, Mr. Siddiqui joined the Congress and was elected as a member of a key social gathering committee and in 2019 was appointed the Congress western zone chairman after the social gathering divided the UP sector into six organizational zones. Within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Bijnoor was the candidate, however he was defeated, receiving simply 2.34% of the votes. When he resigned from parliament in January, he claimed he had been “excluded” from the social gathering.
At Siddiqui’s inaugural occasion on the SP headquarters in Lucknow, when a reporter instructed that some social gathering members might have seen Khan in Siddiqui, Akhilesh quipped, “You’ll be able to’t see something, get your eyes examined.”
“Everybody on this room is aware of that an injustice has occurred to the revered Azam Sahab. Everybody right here desires him launched. It’s troublesome for him to get justice with out the federal government and the courts. All of the circumstances towards Azam Sahab are false,” Akhilesh mentioned.
SP spokesperson Udayvir Singh mentioned, “SP is preventing towards the Bharatiya Janata Get together to guard democracy within the nation. Siddiqui Ji has joined SP to strengthen the social gathering in that struggle.”
SP insiders mentioned the social gathering’s give attention to strengthening assist amongst Muslims was bolstered by its efficiency within the 2022 meeting polls, the place it received 111 seats within the 403-member Home. A complete of 34 Muslim MLAs had been subsequently elected, of which 31 had been from the SP and the remaining three from its erstwhile allies Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Get together (SBSP).
