A day after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Youth Congress president, Zeeshan Siddique, lashed out at the grand old party over its treatment of minorities while accusing it of being 'communal'.
"It is very unfortunate," he said on being removed from the post.
Zeeshan, the son of Baba Siddique who severed ties with the Congress earlier this month, alleged that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge "can't even discharge his responsibilities with full freedom" in the party.
"Mallikarjun Kharge is such a senior leader but even his hands are tied. Rahul Gandhi is doing his job but it looks as if people around him have taken a 'supari' (contract) from other parties to finish off the Congress," he alleged.
Recalling a conversation in Maharashtra's Nanded, he 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 10kg before they could let me meet him."
Calling the Congress 'communal', Zeeshan said, "The treatment being meted out to minority leaders and workers in the Congress is unfortunate. The extent of communalism in the Congress and Mumbai Youth Congress is unlike anywhere else. Is it a sin to be a Muslim in the Congress? The party has to answer why am I being targeted? Is it only because I am a Muslim?"
Zeeshan was removed from the post of Mumbai Youth Congress President on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Zeeshan's father, Baba Siddiqui, had quit the Congress and joined the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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