Clearing The Decks For Her Brother? Mayawati Expels BSP Heavyweight Siddiqui

Five years after the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta found evidence of money laundering against Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Mayawati has realised that her party’s Muslim face was indeed corrupt.

Siddiqui, who has been a powerful minister in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief’s cabinet, was sacked from the party along with his son Afzal, a zonal coordinator, on charges of making money illegally through anti-party activities.

The Muslim face of the BSP, Siddiqui was also blamed for the drubbing the party got in the recent assembly elections.

In 2012, Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra had ordered an inquiry by the Directorate of Enforcement against Siddiqui and his wife and Legislative Council member (MLC) Husna for having assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. The clout that he wielded due to his proximity with Mayawati meant that the inquiry was put in cold storage.

Justice Mehrotra had said that inquiry into the assets of the minister and his MLC wife had revealed a clear case of money laundering. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had then accused Mayawati of shielding Siddiqui, which she indeed had done.

It was ironical for the BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, a Rajya Sabha member, to announce in Lucknow today (10 May) that Siddiqui had been sacked for taking money from the party cadres for getting their work done.

After the father-son duo was axed, Mayawati and about 200 senior leaders of the party went into a huddle at the party’s office in Lucknow.

Mishra alleged that Siddiqui owns slaughterhouses and land, all acquired through illegal means, in western Uttar Pradesh. Although he was given charge of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh, Siddiqui spent most of his time in western Uttar Pradesh and Lucknow, indulging in anti-party activities and amassing wealth, he alleged.

That Siddiqui had lost the BSP supremo’s trust became evident last month when he was put in charge of Madhya Pradesh following an organisational overhaul in which Mayawati passed on major responsibilities of the party to her brother Anand Kumar.

Mishra dismissed suggestions that Siddiqui was sacked for hobnobbing with the BJP, the present go-to address for all politicians. “No, it was not because of that,” Mishra said. For different reasons, he added, neither the BJP nor the Samajwadi Party would accept Siddiqui. “It is because he was making money in ticket distribution and other deals… We got to know of his activities only after he was sent to Madhya Pradesh as in charge. The party will not tolerate indiscipline,” Mishra said.

A former national-level basketball player, Siddiqui began his political career by unsuccessfully contesting the Banda Nagar Nigam president’s election in 1988. He joined the BSP the same year and won the 1991 election, but lost in 1993. He bounced back in 1995 and was rewarded with a ministerial berth when Mayawati became chief minister for the first time.

What Gayatri Prajapati was to Akhilesh Yadav, Siddiqui was to Mayawati. Before the 2012 elections, Akhilesh had promised to pursue the case against Siddiqui with the Lokayukta but dropped the idea for reasons best known to him. It was alleged that Siddiqui had given Prajapati some tips on how to exploit natural wealth illegally to fill his coffers.

Having herself been accused of corruption while she was chief minister and herself taking vast sums of money from ticket seekers, Mayawati took the high moral ground to dispense with her long-time associate.

Leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, Brajesh Pathak, both of whom are now BJP ministers, and the late Akhilesh Das, who left the party, had openly accused Mayawati of selling tickets and party positions to political aspirants.

Mayawati has been struggling to regain her foothold after her party’s debacle in the recent assembly elections in which the BSP managed to win only 19 seats. With the local elections set to be fought on party symbols, her troubles seem to be increasing by the day.

Swami Prasad Maurya, the former cabinet colleague of Mayawati, said the BSP surpremo’s pot of sins was now overflowing and her political future is bleak.