BSP Leadership Overhaul: Mayawati Removes Akash Anand From Top Party Post, Appoints Anand Kumar And Ramji Gautam As National Coordinators

BSP supremo Mayawati made a major leadership change in the party on Sunday (2 March) by sacking nephew Akash Anand as national coordinator, and replacing him with Anand Kumar, and senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Ramji Gautam, Indian Express reported.

Akash Anand has now been dismissed from the top post for the second time.

Akash was first appointed as BSP national coordinator in 2019 but was sacked on 7 May last year during the Lok Sabha elections after he was booked for “promoting enmity” due to a speech in Sitapur.

However, he was reinstated weeks later on 23 June.

This time, the BSP supremo claimed that Akash’s association with expelled BSP leader and former MP Ashok Siddharth by virtue of being his son-in-law has led to the expulsion.

Earlier, on 12 February, Mayawati had expelled Siddharth as well as former central-state coordinator of the party, Nitin Singh while accusing them of factionalism and indulging in “anti-party activities”.

The key decisions were taken at a grand BSP meeting in Lucknow, chaired by Mayawati and attended by party leaders from across the country. The meeting reviewed the strategy of BSP, which has been struggling in Uttar Pradesh, which it ruled in the past, and elsewhere.

“You are aware that Siddharth’s daughter is married to him. We will have to watch how much influence Siddharth will exert on his daughter as well as Akash. In such a situation Akash has been removed from all party responsibilities. Siddharth is completely responsible for this and has damaged the party while ruining Akash’s career,” Mayawati said in a statement after the meeting, Indian Express reported.

Announcing the new national coordinators, Mayawati asserted, “I will not announce my successor till my last breath and will continue to handle party affairs.”

Anand Kumar will set up camp in Delhi to oversee the party affairs, while Gautam will travel across the country to connect with the party’s supporters.

Mayawati commended Anand Kumar for prioritising the party’s interests, noting that he has decided to marry his children into non-political families.

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