Shahid Siddiqui joins RLD

After joining RLD in New Delhi,Siddiqui told The Indian Express: “The RLD chief Ajit Singh has consistently demanded for a separate state — Harit Pradesh — and so do I. I have joined RLD to strengthen Singh in his movement for this separate state.”

Siddiqui,who joined the RLD in New Delhi along with some gram pradhans and local body chairmen of Western UP districts like Bijnor,Muzaffarnagar,Saharanpur,said his politics has always been based in Western UP,where only the BSP and the RLD have a stronghold. “I had to join a party but it was not BSP as I am not happy with its style of functioning,” he said.

The Congress has no leadership in that area and the both BJP and the Samajwadi Party are on a decline there. “The Muslims have supported SP in the past,but now they need to strengthen RLD to create a social alliance to fight for the demand of power,water and development,” he added.

Siddiqui was Rajya Sabha member of the Samajwadi Party from November 2002 to November 2008. In July 2008,he quit the Samajwadi Party and joined the BSP.