Siddiqui booted from SP for interviewing Narendra Modi?

Lucknow, Jul 28: Shahid Siddiqui from the Samajwadi party (SP) who stirred controversy for interviewing Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in his capacity as editor of Urdu weekly,

has faced the axe from the party. The matter regarding his ouster was clarified by party General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav today.

Modi's comments in the interview that said that he was ready to be hanged if he was found guilty in the 2002 Godhra riots had stirred a political conspiracy. The matter that the interviewer was a close member of the SP had also fuelled speculation that the party was warming up to Modi and to the BJP as well.

Distancing themselves from the highly flammable controversy, Yadav has been quoted as saying, "Shahid Siddiqui is not a member of the SP. He left the party a long time back and later joined the Lok Dal. He can go to Modi if he wants to."

Sources have, however, been quoted as saying that Siddiqui was sacked for interviewing Modi and the party was irked by this. He had earlier too ruffled the party's stand by sharply criticising Mayawati when he was with the BSP that ultimately led to his ouster from the party.

OneIndia News