BSP civil war: Mayawati links Akash Anand's return to Ashok Siddharth's retirement

LUCKNOW: After removing nephew Akash Anand as national coordinator on September 3, saying he needed to attain more political maturity before holding a post of responsibility in the party, BSP chief Mayawati has set a new condition for his return to a key position in the party.

The former UP chief minister had accused Siddharth -- a former Rajya Sabha MP -- of working for personal gain and advised him to retire from politics if he wanted Akash Anand's return to the BSP.

Akash, who is Siddharth's son-in-law, is currently associated with the party as an ordinary worker, while Siddharth was expelled from the party on September 3, for the second time.

On September 9, the BSP office issued a letter on behalf of party chief Mayawati in which she said elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab were important for the BSP. She said that the party was dedicated with heart, mind and resources to fulfilling Dr Ambedkar's dream of transforming the 'oppressed into the ruling class'.

Referring to the challenges being raised regarding the Bahujan movement and reservation, she appealed to the Dalit community not to do anything for personal gain that might harm the mission.

The BSP supremo further said that misguided people in the party were being given a chance to improve, but disciplinary action was also being taken against those who had become obstacles. In this context, she cited the example of former Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Siddharth.

Mayawati clarified that Siddharth had given priority to his personal and family ambitions over the party's mission. The direct consequence, she said, was that his son-in-law, Akash, was bearing the brunt.

The BSP chief said Siddharth still had a chance to retire completely from politics. Only then would Akash be able to work independently, and only then would the party sympathetically consider giving him back his old responsibilities.

According to party sources, Mayawati first called Mewalal Gautam last Sunday and told him to speak to the party's district presidents and office bearers and get them to unfollow Anand and Siddharth on social media.

Gautam is the in-charge of the party office in Lucknow and is considered to be Mayawati's eyes and ears. The sequence of events followed activities on social media regarding Akash. He subsequently changed his social-media bio, describing himself as a BSP worker instead of national coordinator.

The changes in the BSP began to become visible at the national executive meeting on September 3. Mayawati had convened the meeting, which was attended for the first time by her younger nephew and Anand Kumar's younger son, Ishaan (Ishu) Anand. Notably, Akash Anand was not invited.

Following this, Akash himself indicated that he had been removed as national coordinator by changing his social-media bio. The developments in the BSP are not being viewed merely as an organisational reshuffle.

At their core is also the question of the party's next generation of leadership after Mayawati. On the one hand, Akash has long been the face of the party's youth politics. On the other, assigning Ishaan Anand responsibility for overseeing the organisation at the national level indicates that Mayawati has increased his role in the party's organisational structure.

According to sources, on August 25 this year, Akash had raised questions over the party structure at a meeting in Jewar, Noida. He had said that he put his career at stake the very day he announced that he would bring reforms and listen to everyone.

Anand had said that some of the office bearers did not let him work.

“The wrong people are sitting in the wrong places. There are many strategies and technologies that we want to adopt, but we are unable to do so because of the way the structure is built. The people sitting there do not want to let anything happen, whom we cannot touch or remove right now," he said.