Mayawati is the greatest blackmailer India ever witnessed: Siddiqui

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 12 (ANI): Ousted Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui on Friday hit back at party supremo Mayawati, saying that she is the all time greatest blackmailer the country has ever witnessed. "She said that I blackmailed her, but there is no greatest blackmailer then her, which is ever witnessed by the country," Siddiqui said in a press briefing here. He flatly rejected the allegation made by Mayawati, saying that the latter just got furious when he applied the trick of phone tapping on her, which was taught by Mayawati herself. "I want to ask Mayawati that who was being blackmailed in the audio clip that was released by me yesterday," he said. He also accused Mayawati for torturing a number of senior BSP leaders and forcing them to leave the party. "A number of BSP leaders have been tortured. Few were humiliated and were sacked form the party. Who didn't left they were tortured to that extend that themselves left the party," he said. Referring to the charges framed against him, Siddiqui said that the BSP chief has a habit of framing new stories for saving herself. "She said that I lost the election. I was the one who campaigned for Kashiram when he was elected as the MP. When I started campaigning for her, she never lost an election. Now I am not with her, I dare her to win local body election, forget about Rajya Sabha or any other election," Siddiqui said. Mayawati yesterday said Siddiqui was made in-charge of western Uttar Pradesh during the assembly elections but got complaints from people alleging that he was a "blackmailer". Addressing the media she said, "If he can record party president's call and tamper it as per convenience then how can he be expected to fulfill responsibilities." She said Naseemuddin used to scare people for money and was warned by her many times. Talking about the tapes that were released by Naseemuddin, Mayawati said they were "doctored". The BSP supremo also responded to Naseemuddin's allegation of her calling Muslims as 'traitors', saying the Muslim Community has full faith in her and believe that "Mayawati cannot make such statements about them". Earlier, coming down heavily on Mayawati, Naseemuddin accused the former of labelling the Muslims as 'traitors' after debacle in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. "After elections in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati called me to Delhi and asked me why the Muslims did not vote for the BSP? She also said that backward and upper caste also did not vote for us," Siddiqui quoted Mayawati as saying. Siddiqui said he told Mayawati that "Muslims have voted for the BSP but due to the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance, they got confused and divided. Mayawati disagreed. She abused me and said I was fooling her and said Mussalman dhokhebaaz hain (Muslims are traitors)." He further said whatever charges have been levelled against him, applies to Mayawati and that he can prove those with evidence. Siddiqui further alleged that Mayawati had demanded Rs. 50 crore from him for the party and when he failed to do so, he and his son were expelled on false charges. "The charges were deliberately framed against me and my son. I will expose it all to you. And if I expose everything then there will be an earthquake. But I will not expose all right now," he added. The BSP has expelled Siddiqui and his son Afzal Siddiqui from the party. Addressing a press conference, Mishra said that leaders of Naseemuddin's constituency were belligerently opposing him due to his lacklustre performance and were demanding his removal from the party for a long time. "The results of the constituency which was given to Naseemuddin Siddiqui was very poor. The leaders of the areas under his purview (West Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow mandal, Uttarakhand) have been strongly opposing him due to his lacklustre conduct. The leaders of Siddiqui also demanded his removal," said Chandra. In a major organisational reshuffle last month, Mayawati ousted Siddiqui as Uttar Pradesh chief and appointed him in-charge of Madhya Pradesh. The BSP in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections faced a humiliating defeat. The party managed to secure only 19 seats out of the total 403 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party failed to win even a single seat. (ANI)