Expelled BSP Leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui is Set to Join Congress

New Delhi: Former UP minister and a close aide of the BSP chief Mayawati, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, may soon join the Congress.

Naseemuddin, the Muslim face of BSP, was expelled from the party on May 10 last year for carrying out "anti-party" activities, prompting him to hit back at party supremo Mayawati.

He came out with audio tapes of his conversation with the BSP chief to support his allegation that money was being demanded from him.

Mayawati had accused Siddiqui of usurping party funds. The expulsion came after BSP won less than two dozen seats in the Assembly polls in 2017. The vote percentage of the BSP was also just above twenty percent.

Siddiqui was in charge of BSP's poll preparations in western UP and Uttarakhand Assembly polls and also the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.

Siddiqui belongs to Banda district in the Bundelkhand region of UP. He rose up the ranks to establish himself as the Muslim face of the party. He was minister in all four Mayawati-led governments in UP.

Post expulsion, Siddiqui floated a new outfit, the Rashtriya Bahujan Morcha, with the aim of providing a political alternative.

About half a dozen former BSP legislators are also expected to join Congress along with Siddiqui.

“BSP in the LS polls will have no option but to align with the Congress if the party wants to save its core base," one of the former BSP leaders joining Congress told News18.

Formal induction may happen later this week in presence of UP in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and UPCC president Raj Babbar.