BSP Mayawati reinstates nephew Akash Anand as BSP’s national coordinator, her successor

LUCKNOW: BSP national president Mayawati on Sunday reinstated her nephew Akash Anand as the national coordinator and her successor in the party. She expressed hope that he will handle the responsibilities with “maturity” this time.
“I hope he will emerge as a mature leader in the interest of our party and movement at every level,” said Mayawati, adding that she also has a hope that people in the party will support and encourage him more this time.
“So that he emerges true to my expectations,” said the BSP national president.
It was on May 7, the day the polling for the third phase of LS elections ended that Mayawati had divested Akash of the twin responsibilities of being the party's national coordinator and her successor for his "lack of maturity".
With eyes set on 2027 UP assembly polls, Maya has given nephew another chance
She had posted on X, “In the larger interest of the party and the movement, Akash Anand is being removed from the two significant responsibilities till he attains maturity.
The leadership of BSP will never back off from making sacrifices in the interest of the party and the movement,” adding that the party was preparing the younger generation to work for the movement and it was in the same line that Akash was given the twin roles.
Akash’s demotion had come following a campaign speech in Sitapur on April 28 in which he used unparliamentary language against BSP's political opponents and an FIR was lodged against him and 39 others. But, more than his speech and an FIR that followed, it was the possibility of BSP not winning any seats in UP that was seen as a reason behind Mayawati's decision.
According to the political experts, it was clear by the third phase that Jatav vote had shifted from BSP, which also came true as BSP did not win any seat in UP this time and also got its vote share dropped to 9.3% from 19.4% in 2019, when it won ten seats.
After being anointed Mayawati's successor in UP in December 2023, LS elections 2024 was the first polls that Akash faced. In UP, he campaigned for the first time and extensively. He held as many as 17 rallies before he was benched May 7. He had launched his campaign from Nagina on April 6 and ended it in Kanpur on May 1. The party lost the Nagina seat, which it won in 2019, to Azad Samaj Party’s Chandrashekhar Azad in 2024.
The results indicated that Mayawati’s decision may have meant to save Akash the ignominy of losing it in UP, where it won second highest number of seats in 2019 after the BJP.
Now, with eyes set on 2027, Mayawati has given her nephew another chance. “There was also a huge demand in the party to bring him back. I thank Behenji for giving him the responsibilities again and wish the best for Akash ji," said BSP state president Vishwanath Pal.
Akash was made the party’s national coordinator in May 2019, after BSP won 10 of the 38 seats that it contested in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and RLD in 2019.
On Sunday, Akash was also declared the party’s star campaigner for bypolls in Punjab and Uttrakhand along with Mayawati.