BJP slams SP for distancing from Shahid Siddiqui

New Delhi: Slamming Samajwadi Party for distancing itself from its leader Shahid Siddiqui after he interviewed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, BJP on Saturday charged it with "using" people for its vote-bank politics.

"Every Editor has the right to ask questions...Samajwadi Party is in the habit of using people and then disowning them. SP had joined hands with Kalyan Singh but disowned him later for the sake of votes," BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

SP has sought to dissociate itself from Siddiqui who took Modi's interview for an Urdu daily, in which he is an Editor, in which the Gujarat Chief Minister had said he would not apologize and was ready to be hanged if found guilty in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

SP has sought to dissociate itself from Siddiqui who took Modi\'s interview for an Urdu daily.

"As the editor, he has the right to interview whoever he wants," Hussain said, alleging "it is an old habit of Samajwadi Party to do things for fear of the vote bank."

He said "as a journalist it is not necessary that only the views of those you agree with are needed to be published. His paper will not publish news connected only to Mulayam Singh Yadav."

The BJP leader said "the editor should not be punished like this for asking questions. An editor has the right to ask questions...During NDA government, Mulayam Singh Yadav had been asking questions from LK Advani on many issues on the floor of Parliament. Did he become a BJP member by asking such questions (to Advani)?."

He said people of the nation know that Shahid Siddiqui had joined Samajwadi Party. SP on Saturday distanced itself from Shahid Siddiqui, saying he is no longer a part of the party two days after his interview with Modi made waves.

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