Mehdood Madani, son of Jamat-e-Ulema Hind national president, Asad Madani, joined the BSP in the presence of Mayawati here.

The Jamat-e-Ulema Hind has a good hold on the Islamic seminary in Deoband.

Mehdood’s brother Mehmud Madani is a RLD leader and the two siblings have been reportedly at loggerheads for the past few years. Mehdood’s shift to BSP is being read as Mayawati’s bid to woo Muslims ahead of elections.

Along with Brahmins and upper castes, the BSP has tried to win over Muslims under its social engineering formula.

One of Mayawati’s close confidants, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, has been a prominent face of the party since the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections of 2007.

Meanwhile, terming the talks for possible pre-poll alliances as “a waste of time”, Mayawati asked her party cadre to ignore issues like tie-ups and concentrate on ensuring victory of party candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing a day-long closed-door convention of BSP’s Delhi unit where media was kept out, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said discussion on issues like possible alliances was “a waste of time” for the workers, sources said.

She also warned the cadre against internal bickering, they said. The BSP has so far announced three candidates from Delhi for Lok Sabha elections.

While the BSP has no representation in the Lok Sabha from Delhi, two of its candidates made to the Delhi Legislative Assembly during the recent elections.

The party polled about 2.60 lakh votes in 2003 Assembly elections. This time, it bagged 8.68 lakh votes. BSP fought all the 70 seats and got 14.23 per cent of the votes.