Ajit Pawar’s ‘Jan Samman Yatra’ will reach Mumbai on Monday but all eyes are on the Bandra East constituency, where Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique will welcome the NCP chief and other leaders.
Zeeshan Siddique’s father, former minister Baba Siddique, had joined Ajit Pawar’s NCP a few months ago and the Congress MLA’s “support” has sparked speculations that Zeeshan will also quit the Grand Old Party just before the assembly elections and join NCP to contest from the Bandra East constituency.
The Congress MLA will welcome Ajit Pawar who, in an open jeep, will canvass across the constituency along with him and Baba Siddique. A bike rally has also been organised by Zeeshan’s team.
When Baba Siddique joined NCP, Zeeshan had maintained that he would remain with the Congress. During the recently held state council elections, there were allegations that Zeeshan had cross-voted but the leader maintained that he was loyal to the Congress. However, Monday’s engagement has triggered speculations of the MLA jumping ship.
When News18 contacted Zeeshan, he said: “I am not joining NCP. This function has been organised to thank Ajit Pawar for the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojna’ as there are more than 12,000 beneficiaries from my constituency. Moreover, if we talk about the Congress, Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad took out a rally from my constituency, but I was not even invited. When the Congress started distributing the nomination forms for the state assembly polls, which they will screen and later decide the candidate, I was denied the same form by the party, which means their message is loud and clear. Let me tell you that I am going to contest the upcoming state assembly elections from this constituency, but from which party, I have not decided as of now. I still consider myself a Congress party worker.”
News18 tried reaching out to the Congress leadership for a comment but did not receive a reply.
Later in the day, Ajit Pawar’s Yatra will move to the Anushakti Nagar constituency, represented by NCP leader Nawab Malik. Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had objected to the inclusion of Nawab Malik in the Mahayuti alliance due to serious graft allegations against him. However, this will be the first time that Malik will share the stage with Pawar after being released on bail.
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