Mayawati sacks nephew Akash as party co-ordinator, heir

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday night said she is divesting her nephew Akash Anand of his responsibilities as the party's national co-ordinator and her "successor", barely five months after she had anointed him.

Announcing it on X, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said she has taken the decision in the interest of the party and the movement and till the time Anand gains "full maturity".

She said her brother and Akash's father Anand Kumar will continue to fulfil his responsibilities as before.

The surprise decision came on the day voting was held for the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls in the country.

In a post in Hindi on X, Mayawati said, "BSP is also a movement for self-respect and self-esteem of Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and social change for which Shri Kanshi Ram ji and I have dedicated our entire lives and a new generation is also being prepared to give it momentum."

She said, "In this direction, along with promoting other people in the party, I had declared Shri Akash Anand as the National Coordinator and his successor, but in the larger interest of the party and the movement, he is being divested of both these important responsibilities until he attains full maturity."

Mayawati said Anand Kumar will continue to fulfil his responsibilities in the party and the movement as before.

"Therefore, the leadership of BSP is not going to shy away from making every kind of sacrifice in the interest of the party and the movement and in taking forward the caravan of Baba Saheb Dr Ambedkar," she added.

On April 28, Akash Anand was booked in a case of violation of Model Code of Conduct along with four others for allegedly using objectionable language at a poll rally in Sitapur.

The action had come after the district administration's took suo motu cognisance of Anand's speech at the rally.

"This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors. The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan," he had said in criticism of the BJP-led state government.

Besides Anand, BSP candidates Mahendra Yadav, Shyam Awasthi, and Akshay Kalra and rally organiser Vikas Rajvanshi were booked in the matter, superintendent of police (Sitapur) Chakresh Mishra had then said.

The case was registered under sections IPC 171C (undue influence at elections), 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and section 125 of the Representation of People Act.