Mayawati removes nephew Akash Anand from key posts in BSP-OxBig News Network

BSP chief Mayawati removed her nephew Akash Anand from all party posts on Sunday. She said she would not name her successor till she was alive.

The party is supreme and relations can come later, said the former Chief Minister, who sacked Akash Anand last year only to reinstate him later and appoint him as her political successor.

In a slew of other significant changes in the BSP leadership announced at a high-level meeting of the party’s office-bearers from across the country here, Mayawati appointed her brother Anand Kumar and Ramji Gautam as national coordinators.

Removing Akash Anand from all party posts, Mayawati held his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth, whom she expelled from the BSP last month on charges of factionalism and anti-party activities, responsible, according to a party statement.

Siddharth divided the BSP into two groups across the country and tried to weaken it. He also ruined the political career of Akash Anand, she said. She added that she would not announce her successor till she was alive. The party and the movement are supreme and relations come later, she added.

Appreciating Kumar, who is also the BSP’s national vice-president, she said he always worked with devotion for the party. “Be it paperwork, income tax, court issues, all are handled by him. He quit his government job and also looked after (BSP founder) Kanshi Ram when he was ill,” she said. Kumar has decided to marry his children into non-political families so that no one tries to damage the party like Siddharth did, she said.

The meeting was held to strengthen the BSP at all levels, expand its base across all sections of society and address organisational shortcomings, the statement said.

During the meeting, Mayawati underlined the need to counter rising inflation, poverty, unemployment and backwardness. She also alleged that these were being ignored by the government. She criticised the budgets of both the Central and Uttar Pradesh government, saying they were “unrealistic” and detached from ground realities.

Government policies have failed to improve the lives of millions of poor, labourers, Dalits and backward communities, she said. “India continues to be a country of the poor despite being called a rich nation,” she said.

Reiterating the BSP’s commitment to upholding the ideals of BR Ambedkar, Mayawati said her party would continue to work for the upliftment of marginalised communities, the statement read.

The meeting also outlined preparations for the upcoming birth anniversary celebrations of Kanshi Ram on March 15. Party workers from various regions will pay tributes at designated memorial sites, including Kanshi Ram Memorial in Lucknow and Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida, it read.

Targeting the Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said the party faced a humiliating defeat in the Milkipur Assembly bypoll even when the BSP did not contest the election and asked whom the SP would blame for its loss. “The SP and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. Only the BSP can defeat the BJP and other casteist parties with its Ambedkarwadi policy,” she said.