Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui floats new political outfit in Bengal

Abbas Siddiqui, an influentialcleric of Furfura Sharif Dargah in West Bengal's Hooghlydistrict, on Thursday floated a new political outfit -- IndianSecular Front (ISF) -- ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

The pirzada said that the newly launched outfit mightcontest state elections from all 294 Assembly seats.

''We have formed this party to ensure thatconstitutional democracy is protected, everybody gets socialjustice and all of us live with dignity,'' Siddiqui, the headof the prominent Sufi mazar, said at the launch of hispolitical outfit at Kolkata Press Club.

In the days ahead, we would organise severalprogrammes to reach out to the masses, he said.

Asked if his move to float a new outfit and contestthe polls would lead to a split in minority votes -- a factorthat might be disadvantageous for the TMC -- Siddiqui saidthat it was not his job to worry about the ruling party'selection prospects.

To a question about the possibility of forging analliance with the TMC, he said,''It is the duty of MamataBanerjee as the chief minister of the state to take everybodyalong to stop the march of the BJP, not mine.'' Elections to the 294-member Bengal Assembly are likelyto be held in April-May.