Mumbai, Oct 28 (IANS) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLC, Zeeshan Siddique, on Wednesday expressed gratitude to the party leadership for appointing him as the NCP’s Mumbai Regional President and said that he will live up to the trust the party has placed in him.
The formal appointment letter was handed over to Siddique by NCP National President and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Sunetra Pawar.
Speaking to IANS, Siddique said, “It is a very big responsibility that Sunetra Vahini and Parth Dada have given me under their leadership today by appointing me as the Mumbai President of the Nationalist Congress Party. This is a very big thing for my entire team and me. Holding high the flag of the Nationalist Congress Party in Mumbai is now my responsibility.”
“Vahini has always been a motherly figure to me, and Parth Dada has always been like an elder brother to me… I will live up to their trust. Earlier as well, they gave me the MLC post, and after that, they made me the Mumbai President,” he said.
Zeeshan Siddique, who lost the 2024 Assembly elections from Bandra East constituency, is the son of the late veteran politician Baba Siddique. The NCP leadership expressed firm confidence that under Siddique’s stewardship, energy, and dedication, the party organisation in Mumbai will become significantly stronger, more effective, and deeply people-centric.
“My father would have been very happy for me today, seeing that such a big responsibility has been given to me. Wherever he is, he must be smiling. Remembering him and Ajit Dada, I will move forward. The values and upbringing my father gave me, I will keep that in mind and walk on the same path,” Zeeshan Siddique said.
The appointment marks a crucial step for the NCP as it reorganises its leadership framework in India’s financial capital to bolster its urban outreach and grassroots influence.
Zeeshan’s appointment comes when NCP had failed to increase its tally in the recently held BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation elections. The party is struggling to consolidate its presence in Mumbai. NCP has historically struggled to establish a dominant presence in Mumbai’s municipal and Assembly politics, compared to its formidable strength in western Maharashtra (such as Pune, Satara, and Kolhapur) and the ‘Sugar Belt’.
Historically and currently, the NCP functions primarily as a coalition player rather than a lead power within Mumbai. Out of Mumbai’s 36 Legislative Assembly seats and 227 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) wards, the NCP has historically held only a tiny fraction of seats (often 1-3 Assembly seats at peak).
Areas with notable Muslim population demographics (such as parts of Kurla, Anushakti Nagar, or Shivaji Nagar/Mankhurd) have occasionally elected NCP candidates. Pockets housing migrants from Western Maharashtra and Marathwada living in Mumbai offer localised support due to loyalty to rural NCP leadership.
Following the July 2023 split into NCP (Ajit Pawar) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), the already thin Mumbai grassroots apparatus has divided further.
–IANS
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