The roller-coaster ride of Akash Anand, 31, in the Bahujan Samaj Party continued as the party’s national president Mayawati, his aunt, removed him from the key post of chief national coordinator on Thursday. This is the third time in over two years that he has faced the political axe in a stint marked by frequent ‘ousted-brought back-ousted again’ chapters.
Accordingly, Akash has replaced ‘chief national coordinator’ with ‘party worker, BSP’ on his X handle. “It would be inappropriate to entrust him with major party responsibilities at this stage. She also expelled national coordinator Randhir Singh Beniwal who was in-charge of party affairs in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on the charge of anti-party activities at the time. The party has no seats in Parliament.
Mayawati has been the Uttar Pradesh chief minister four times – in 1995, 1997, 2002-03 and 2007-12. In the 2007 UP assembly election, the BSP polled 30.43% votes and bagged 206 seats to form its only majority government. The BSP’s lone lawmaker in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly died in August.
Addressing a meeting of the party’s all India committee at the state unit office in Lucknow, Mayawati said she had permitted Akash Anand to work within the party but believed he required further maturity. He will continue to serve the party as a common worker, she said. Time is needed to ensure the party is not harmed in elections by opponents employing various tactics—such as , bribery, force, and division—to undermine it,” she said. Announcing Siddharth’s expulsion, Mayawati had said he would not be taken back into the party under any circumstances in the future. A BSP leader said those who defy her orders are shown the door.
