Mayawati said Akash Anand, the BSP’s national coordinator, would continue to work in the party. (File Photo)
Akash Anand was the BSP’s national convener until September 3, when Mayawati announced at an all-India meeting of party office-bearers that he would work as an ordinary party worker. Ashok Siddharth, a former Rajya Sabha MP of the party, was expelled by Mayawati on August 2 for alleged anti-party activities. At the September 3 meeting, Mayawati told BSP office-bearers: “I have allowed Akash Anand to work in the party, which is before all of you, but Akash Anand still needs to become more mature. The developments come ahead of the 2027 Punjab assembly election and the subsequent Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
LUCKNOW: BSP national president Mayawati said on Tuesday that Ashok Siddharth, the father-in-law of her nephew Akash Anand, should take complete “sanyas” from politics. Only then, she said, would it be appropriate for Akash Anand to work freely in the party again. She said it would not be appropriate to give him any major responsibility, adding that he still needed to become more “mature. She said Akash Anand, as national coordinator, would continue to work in the party. “I am also completely committed to that resolve,” she said. On August 25, Mayawati announced that the BSP would contest the Punjab polls “alone without any alliance or compromise with anyone,” saying electoral tie-ups risked weakening the party’s vote share and demoralising its cadre.
Till then, it would not be appropriate to give him a major responsibility in the party. Mayawati invoked BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s approach of allowing family members to assist with party work but opposing giving them election tickets or positions after the party came to power. Mayawati said on Tuesday that the party leadership will consider giving Akash Anand’s responsibilities back to him only after Ashok Siddharth gives up politics completely.