“Significant journey lasting 48 yrs”: Ex-Maha minister Baba Siddique quits Congress

Siddique is a three-term MLA from Bandra West assembly constituency but lost the seat to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ashish Shelar in 2014 assembly polls

Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on Thursday resigned from the Congress after being a member of the party for nearly five decades.

Siddique began his political career as a student leader and was first elected to Mumbai civic body as a corporator. (Baba Siddique | Official X account)

He is likely to join Ajit Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) but there was no clarity on his next move.

“I joined the Indian National Congress party as a young teenager, and it has been a significant journey lasting 48 years. Today I resign from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress Party @INCIndia with immediate effect,” Siddique said in a post on his official X account.

“There’s a lot I would have liked to express but as they say some things are better left unsaid. I thank everyone who has been a part of this journey,” he added.

On January 15, senior Congress party leader and former union minister Milind Deora had joined the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde.

Siddique is a three-term MLA from Bandra West assembly constituency but lost the seat to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ashish Shelar in 2014 assembly polls.

He has held positions such as minister of state for food & civil supplies, labor, food and drug administration (FDA) and consumer protection in the erstwhile Congress-NCP government in the early 2000.

He was also appointed as chairman of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Board for a period of four years from 2000-2004.

Siddiqui is a prominent Muslim leader in the city known for his star-studded Iftar parties attended by star guests like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.

Siddique began his political career as a student leader and was first elected to Mumbai civic body as a corporator.

On May 31, 2017, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at various locations of Baba Siddique and others in connection with the alleged slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) case that was registered against the Congress leader at Bandra police station in 2014.

On June 9, he was also questioned by the central investigation agency for around eight hours.

Bandra police had registered an FIR (first information report) in 2014, on the direction of a local court, to probe the financial irregularities in the slum rehabilitation project in which Siddique is alleged to have been involved.