Maharashtra Elections 2024: Zeeshan Siddique vows to continue his father's legacy

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NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique on Friday promised to continue the legacy of his father, Baba Siddique, who was shot dead earlier this month and claimed that his party would win a record-breaking majority in the upcoming Maharashtra Elections 2024, PTI reported.

After the NCP announced him as its candidate from the Bandra East constituency, Zeeshan said to PTI that in these difficult times, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, senior leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare believed in him.

"It was an emotional moment for my family, and when people who were friends played games with us, Ajitdada kept his word, believed in me and the Bandra East constituency's demand to see me as an MLA. I will fight elections and fulfil my father's dream."

In the 2019 Maharashtra elections, Zeeshan had won the Bandra East seat on a Congress ticket, he was then suspended by the Congress for cross-voting in the recent legislative council elections. Earlier this year, his father and former Congress leader Baba Siddique had crossed over to NCP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti coalition, PTI reported.

Baba Siddique was gunned down outside Zeeshan's office in Bnadra on October 12. Till now, the police have arrested eleven individuals in connection to the killing.

"My father's absence will always be felt. My sister and I are unmarried, and he would ask us to get married and give him grandchildren, but we didn't think something like this would happen. We will continue his fight. I believe he will get justice, and my family will get justice," said Zeeshan.

The MLA vowed to continue his father's legacy and his work for the society.

"My father was a great man and had a following world over. After his murder, I received thousands of messages like 'Baba bhai had paid my daughter's fees', and someone said he had paid for their mother's treatment. We will fight the elections by taking all the love and blessings my father received. I believe we will win with a majority and have a record-breaking victory," he said.

Zeeshan criticised the Congress party for not being secular and claimed that the party did not give seats to Muslim candidates.

"For the first time, I saw there was no Muslim in the upper house, and now the NCP nominated a Muslim. Ajitdada is a leader who takes along people from every group and religion and is actually secular. There is a party that was not secular but has called itself secular overnight, like the Shiv Sena (UBT). This is not secularism."

Zeeshan further said that he was not sure if he was the target for the shooters since the murder happened outside his office.

"I don't know if I was the target, as people and media have said it happened outside my office. If this was the case, then even in his final moments, my father protected me, and if I am alive, it must be because I need to protect people and fight for them," he said to PTI.

The NCP leader also said that he has worked for Bandra East for the last five years and promised to complete the pending tasks.

"We will show them (voters) the work done and the sacrifice my family has made. We will tell them about the issues in the areas of Gareeb Nagar and Bharat Nagar and how we worked to protect people's homes," he said.

He claimed that the NCP will have a record-breaking victory from Bandra East, PTI reported.

Elections for the 288 assembly seats of Maharashtra are scheduled to be held on November 20 and the vote counting to be held on November 23.

(With inputs from PTI)