Baba Siddique: Political veteran known for grand Iftar parties

Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Mumbai, was a popular figure in Bollywood circles and had earned praise for supplying life-saving medicines to patients during the Covid pandemic.

During the peak of the pandemic, the 66-year-old leader had arranged highly sought-after medicines for needy patients.

He was also known for his grand Iftar parties which were attended by top Bollywood stars.

Baba Siddique had represented Bandra (West) seat three times in the Maharashtra assembly.

A prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, he was also known be close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt.

His son Zeeshan Siddique is currently the Congress MLA from Mumbai.

While quitting the Congress to join the Nationalist Congress Party in February this year, Baba Siddique had not cited any reason for his decision to leave the Grand Old Party, only stating 'some things are better left unsaid'.

With his joining, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP had received a boost ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

NCP leaders were banking on Siddique to be instrumental in spreading the party's wings in Mumbai especially in the Muslim dominated wards for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections.

Siddique was an MLA for three consecutive terms in 1999, 2004 and 2009.

He was a minister of state for food and civil supplies, labour and FDA in the state government (2004-08), and was also a municipal corporator for two consecutive terms.

He has also served as the chairperson and senior vice-president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee and parliamentary board member of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.

"My journey was with Indira Gandhi-Rajiv Gandhi-Sanjay Gandhi. The current Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is like my father. But sometimes some decisions have to be made in personal life," Siddique had said before joining the NCP and thanked activists and leaders who supported him in his journey of 48 years in the Congress.

Siddiqui, whose father hailed from a village in Bihar's Gopalganj district, had recalled his origins from that state during a social media post in June 2020, after 83 persons, including 13 from the district, were killed in lightning strikes in Bihar.

Baba Siddique was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar in Mumbai just outside his son's office around 9.30 pm on Saturday and shot at.

He was taken to Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead.