Agencies

NEW DELHI, Jul 19: Samajwadi Party suffered a setback when its general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui quit the party and announced his decision to join rival BSP.

"For the last one month, I have been feeling uneasy over the nuclear deal. I am of the opinion that it is not in national interest. I have been opposing it for the last three years," he told reporters with UP Chief Minister Mayawati by his side after a meeting with her.

Siddiqui, also a journalist, said that he was taking this position heeding to the call of his conscience and would oppose the deal to the hilt.

"I am the one who had held Bush's hand and told him that India will not accept the deal," he said.

Though Siddiqui's resignation does not affect Samajwadi Party's numbers in Lok Sabha, it comes as a huge embarrassment to the party that is in the forefront in attempts to muster numbers for the UPA government in the trust vote on Tuesday.

Siddiqui, who was with Congress before joining SP, said he would work with Mayawati for the cause of Dalit-Muslim unity and for the welfare of people of all castes.

Siddiqui's decision came after another Samajwadi MP, SP Singh Baghel, decided to vote against the UPA government.

Baghel said: "The deal is anti-Muslim. Samajwadi Party must realise that its vote bank has now shifted form Yadavs to Muslims."

Other MPs of the Samajwadi Party who have decided to defy the party whip and vote against the UPA are -- Rajnarayan Budholiya of Hamirpur, Jai Prakash of Mohanlalganj constituency and Munawwar Hasan of Muzaffarnagar constituency.