Baba Siddique is well-known for his lavish Iftar parties, which are attended by top Bollywood stars.
Former Maharashtra Minister, Baba Siddique, announced his resignation from Congress on Thursday after being associated with the party for 48 years. He stated that he has moved on as he was ‘not needed’ in the party anymore, and is likely to join the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Siddique is the second senior Mumbai Congress leader to leave the party in the last month after former Union minister Milind Deora joined the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in January.
“I had to make a decision and I have made it. When you don’t understand something and it doesn’t improve despite repeated efforts, you need to realize that you are not needed anymore and you should move on. So, I have moved on,” Baba Siddique said.
Who is Baba Siddique?
Baba Siddique, also known as Baba Ziauddin Siddique, is a prominent Muslim figure in the Mumbai Congress. He is famous for his extravagant Iftar parties which are attended by top Bollywood stars. Siddique is credited with uniting Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan at his Iftaar party in 2013, effectively ending a five-year-long dispute between the two actors.
He served as a minister during the Congress-NCP coalition in Maharashtra and his son Zeeshan is a Congress MLA from Bandra (East) in Mumbai. Siddique also earned praise during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic for arranging crucial medicines for needy patients.
Siddique was an MLA for three consecutive terms in 1999, 2004, and 2009, and had also served as a minister of state for food and civil supplies, labour and FDA (2004-08). He has also served as a municipal corporator for two consecutive terms (1992-1997) and as the chairperson and senior vice president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee and parliamentary board of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
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