Siddiqui says he was inducted in SP by Mulayam in January

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Terming as a 'white lie' Samajwadi Party's claim that he was not its member, former MP Shahid Siddiqui on Sunday said he was inducted by Mulayam Singh in the party fold in January this year as its spokesperson.

Siddiqui also said that by disowning him, the Samajwadi Party had 'shot the messenger'.

The Samajwadi Party had distanced itself from Siddiqui on Saturday after he interviewed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for a Urdu weekly.
"They are telling white lies about my not being a party member. This year on January 6, Mulayam Singh had introduced me to the media as party spokesperson. Now, they are saying such things about me," Siddiqui told PTI here.

"They are suffering from guilt as they have inducted people like Kalyan Singh and Sakshi Maharaj, who were responsible for demolishing the Babri Mosque, in their party and still there are such elements there," Siddiqui said.

On his future course of action, Siddiqui said political outfits were "family affairs and have no respect for freedom of speech and that is why I will stay away from party politics and continue to write and speak for a secular India."

SP leader Ramgopal Yadav had on Saturday said, "Siddiqui is not a SP member and has nothing to do with the party" and asked the media not to project him as party leader.

Siddiqui, who is the editor of Urdu weekly Nai Duniya, had recently interviewed Modi in which the Gujarat Chief Minister had refused to apologise for the post-Godhra riots and instead said he would prefer to be hanged if found guilty.

Siddiqui alleged that ever since the SP had come to power in Uttar Pradesh, it had done nothing for Muslims 'and by portraying me as pro-Modi, they are trying to win back the support of the community as vote bank'.

The former Rajya Sabha MP claimed that Muslims had voted SP to power in the state but were angry with it for not doing anything for them. He claimed that there have been more riots in the state in the last five months than in the last five years.

On his interview with Modi, Siddiqui said he had posed tough questions to him about his alleged role in the 2002 riots. "I asked questions which nobody asks to Modi. People are scared even to see him in his eyes, but I asked tough questions. So there is no question of my favouring anybody," he said.