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The Samajwadi Party on Saturday 'disowned' its leader Shahid Siddiqui, in the wake of the latter publishing an interview conducted by him of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for an Urdu weekly. "When he is not a member of the Samajwadi Party, how can we sack him," SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav told media here. Yadav said that Siddiqui may be wanting to join Modi; that's why he took his interview. Yadav further appealed to the media to not to portray Shahid Siddiqui as a member of the Samajwadi party. "Shahid Siddiqui had fought the Lok Sabha elections from Bijnore for the BSP; he is not part of the SP," he added. Siddiqui, who runs a six-page weekly, had recently interviewed Narendra Modi, wherein the latter said that he was ready to be hanged if he was proven guilty in the 2002 riots case. In the cover page story, Siddiqui writes that the decision to interview Modi came after a luncheon meeting in Mumbai with two Bollywood celebrities' filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and celebrated script writer Salim Khan. Siddiqui said he was not satisfied with Modi's reply. He said that Modi tried to remove the bloody stain of the Godhra riots by giving the interview.

Shahid Siddiqui not an SP member, says Ram Gopal Yadav