Re-entry into BSP: Akash Anand likely to get new role in third innings
The special meeting of party functionaries will be held two days after Mayawati decided to give another chance to Akash Anand, after his series of posts on X, asking for forgiveness for his past mistakes, saying he considers Mayawati as his political guru
LUCKNOW Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati is likely to give a new responsibility to her nephew, Akash Anand, in the party, in the presence of senior functionaries and office-bearers of UP and Uttarakhand on Wednesday.
Expelled leader Akash Anand had appealed to the party chief and his aunt, Mayawati, to take him back into the party fold.
The special meeting of party functionaries will be held two days after she decided to give another chance to Akash Anand, after his series of posts on X, asking for forgiveness for his past mistakes, saying he only considers Mayawati as his political guru. He vowed not to let his relatives, especially his in-laws, be a roadblock in the betterment of the party. Earlier, Anand was the national coordinator of the BSP.
In the past few months, the party has seen multiple twists due to internal politics between Mayawati, her nephew and his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth. She will hold the meeting at the BSP state office at Mall Avenue here from 11am.
“Akash Anand faced the brunt due to proximity with his father-in-law, but his father Anand Kumar and younger sibling Ishan Anand claimed to have played a major role in pacifying Mayawati for allowing Akash’s re-entry into the party functioning,” said a party functionary, adding, “The former UP chief minister had sacked Akash Anand from the post of national coordinator during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, only to reinstate him in September last year.”
He emphasised that the BSP chief would face a little difficulty in giving the post of national coordinator to Akash Anand again as two senior party functionaries, Randheer Beniwal, a Jat leader who had handled a major responsibility during Haryana assembly polls last year, and BSP Rajya Sabha MP Ram Ji Gautam, have already been made national coordinators of the party after Anand’s expulsion in March.
Mayawati had removed Akash Anand from the national coordinator’s post and the primary membership of the party on March 2, and expelled him from the party the next day. The BSP chief, who had earlier named Akash as her political heir, had stated then also that no one would be her political successor.
A senior party functionary said the BSP chief was annoyed with Akash Anand’s father-in-law Ashok Siddarth and his close aide and former MP Nitin Singh for involvement in factionalism and anti-party activities. He said Siddharth, who was in-charge of south-eastern states for the BSP, and Nitin Singh, were expelled from the party in January this year.
On March 5, Akash Anand’s father Anand Kumar, who was national vice president of the party, was made national coordinator after his son’s expulsion from the party. Kumar, however, requested the party chief to allow him to continue working as vice-president instead of holding additional charge of national coordinator.
Mayawati reiterated that she will not name a political successor, asserting that she was in good health and would continue working for the Bahujan movement like party founder, late Kanshi Ram. She also said the acts of Akash’s father-in-law Ashok Siddharth are unpardonable and there is no question of taking him back into the party fold.
