Former Mumbai Youth Congress leader Zeeshan Siddique on Thursday triggered controversy when he claimed he was asked to lose weight if he had to meet Rahul Gandhi.
At a press conference held in Mumbai, Siddique, son of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, said: "During the previous 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Nanded, I was told by one of the persons close to Rahul Gandhi that I should lose 10 kg before they could let me meet him."
Baba Siddique recently quit Congress and joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Siddique's controversial claim came to the notice of Assam chief minister and former Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma who took to X to compare Rahul with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "The only other person, I can think of, who makes such ridiculous demands from his party workers – that they should look nice and photogenic – is a dynast who rules North Korea," Sarma wrote on X.
Sarma, who switched to the BJP in 2014, has targetted Rahul before too. After a video went viral showing Rahul Gandhi trying to feed a biscuit to a dog and later handing over the biscuit to its owner, Himanta said he had faced a similar situation. "Not only Rahul Gandhi but the entire family could not make me eat that biscuit. I am a proud Assamese and Indian I refused to eat and resigned from the Congress." Sarma said on X.
Zeeshan Siddique's charges
#WATCH | Zeeshan Siddiqui, former Mumbai Youth Congress President says, "Mallikarjun Kharge is such a senior leader but even his hands are tied...Rahul Gandhi is doing his work, but it looks like his team has taken 'supari' from other parties to finish Congress. During Bharat… pic.twitter.com/wK7uLxwx0J
— ANI (@ANI) February 22, 2024
Besides the 'weight loss' allegations, Siddique, MLA from Vandre East, also claimed that Muslims had no place in Congress.
The MLA said he bagged 90 percent votes in the election for the Mumbai Youth Congress president's post, and still the party took nine months to appoint him to the post, he said, adding, "I was harassed a lot because I am a Muslim."
"Muslims have no place in the Congress. In Mumbai and Karnataka, two Muslim candidates won Youth wing elections but it took nearly a year for them to get the post in both cases," he said.
