Mayawati replaces Anand Kumar with Randhir Beniwal as BSP’s nat’l coordinator

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has removed her brother Anand Kumar from the post of national coordinator and appointed Randhir Beniwal in his place. The decision, announced on Wednesday through a series of posts on social media platform X, comes after Anand Kumar expressed his desire to continue as the party’s national vice president instead.

Beniwal, 55, a long-time BSP functionary from Saharanpur, belongs to the Jat community and played a key role in the party’s campaigns during the Haryana and Punjab assembly elections last year. His appointment is seen as a move to strengthen BSP’s outreach among Jats, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh. Beniwal has been associated with the BSP since childhood, following in the footsteps of his late father, Phool Singh, who was a longtime member of the party.

“BSP national vice president Shri Anand Kumar, who has been working with selfless service and dedication for a long time and who was also recently made the national coordinator, has expressed his desire to work on one post in the interest of the party and the movement, which is welcomed,” she wrote on X in Hindi.

Beniwal will now share the role of national coordinator with BSP’s Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Gautam. “Thus, now Shri Ramji Gautam, Rajya Sabha MP and Shri Randhir Beniwal, both of them as BSP national coordinators will handle the responsibilities of different states of the country under my guidance. The party hopes these people will work with full honesty and integrity,” she added.

The latest reshuffle is part of a series of strategic changes within the BSP. Anand Kumar was initially appointed as national coordinator after Mayawati removed his son, Akash Anand, from all party positions on Sunday, citing indiscipline and anti-party activities. A day later, Akash was expelled from the party’s primary membership. Earlier, Mayawati had also expelled Akash’s father-in-law, Ashok Siddarth, a longtime party loyalist.

The former UP chief minister had previously sacked Akash Anand during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, only to later reinstate him again and designate him as her political successor in September last year.