Mayawati’s musical chairs with party leadership leaves BSP cadre anxious

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — the only national party whose core electoral base is Dalits — is facing growing anxiety among its cadre over frequent changes in its senior leadership, even as the party struggles to recover from consecutive defeats in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Over the past two years, the BSP has been marked by organisational turmoil, with party supremo Mayawati repeatedly removing senior leaders, reinducting them and, in some cases, expelling them again.Mayawati earlier this week sidelined her nephew Akash Anand, who was considered the party’s “No. 2” and its national convenor, saying he needed to “become more mature”.In his place, Mayawati brought Akash’s younger brother, Ishaan, into a meeting of office-bearers in Lucknow on Thursday. The latest move has once again raised questions within the party about its leadership structure and the absence of a stable second rung, particularly with the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due in early 2027. While the party’s electoral performance has steadily declined, the BSP in recent years has been in the news largely for disciplinary action against senior leaders. A consistent pattern Projected as Mayawati’s political heir ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Akash launched the BSP’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh. However, in May 2024, after he was booked for allegedly promoting enmity during a public rally in Sitapur, Mayawati removed him as the BSP’s national coordinator and withdrew her earlier declaration naming him as her political heir, saying he would have to wait “until he attains maturity”. After 47 days, Mayawati gave him a second chance. In June 2024, she reinstated Akash as national coordinator and again named him her successor. In March 2025, however, Akash was removed as national coordinator for the second time and expelled from the party. Two months later, the decision was reversed. The party appointed him chief national coordinator and, in August 2025, elevated him as its national convenor. A few days later, Mayawati revoked the expulsion of Akash’s father-in-law and former Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Siddharth and reinducted him into the party after he publicly apologised for his “mistakes”. He was also appointed a central coordinator. Siddharth had been expelled from the party in February 2025 on charges of anti-party activities.

Last month, Mayawati again expelled Siddharth, this time over reports of alleged indiscipline. On the same day, she also expelled national coordinator Randhir Singh Beniwal from the party for alleged indiscipline. Party sources said Mayawati has subsequently revoked Beniwal’s expulsion. There was a similar episode involving former BSP national vice-president Jai Prakash Singh. In October 2025, Mayawati reinducted Singh into the party, seven years after he was expelled in 2018, apparently over his remarks that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi could never aspire to become Prime Minister because of his mother’s foreign origin. After his reinduction, Singh was appointed a central coordinator and given charge of Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala. But in April this year, he was expelled again, along with another central coordinator, Dharamveer Ashok, allegedly for visiting Punjab without obtaining permission from the party. While Singh remains expelled, the BSP later revoked Ashok’s expulsion and appointed him in-charge of Jharkhand, according to party sources. On August 13, Mayawati expelled former health minister Anant Kumar Mishra, also known as Antu Mishra, from the party on charges of anti-party activities. Mishra served in the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh from 2007 to 2012. What cadre is sensing The repeated actions against senior leaders, particularly Akash, have begun to raise questions among party workers, according to BSP functionaries, including coordinators and district presidents. “The BSP is a cadre-based party. But now the same cadre is questioning the top leadership’s decisions over frequent changes at the top — especially expulsions and reinductions. They are feeling that the BSP’s house is still not in order when the Assembly elections are only a few months away,” said a senior party leader. The concern is particularly significant because the BSP’s organisational strength has traditionally rested on a disciplined cadre and a clearly defined leadership hierarchy centred on Mayawati. With the party having failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the pressure to rebuild that organisation ahead of the Assembly polls has grown. Asked how he responds to apprehensions among workers, the leader said: “I urge them to maintain faith in the decisions and leadership of Behanji (Mayawati). She herself is monitoring the poll preparations and organisational activities. Action against Akash shows that the party and its movement are paramount for Behanji. She is finalising the candidates and their announcements have started in the constituencies. The cadre is ready for elections. Meetings in villages with Dalits, Muslims, OBCs and Brahmins are continuing on the ground.” Another leader said that while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav are travelling across the state, meeting leaders and trying to woo Gen-Z voters, the BSP is still struggling to “set its house in order” and lacks a stable youth face. “The ultimate message we see behind these actions is that Behanji is the only authority in the party and all decisions will be taken single-handedly by her,” the leader said. According to the leader, information circulating within the party is that action was taken against Akash because, during his recent speeches in Hathras and Jewar last month, he made statements that were not part of Mayawati’s official message for the gatherings. “He was supposed to only communicate the message of Behanji but he added some statements on his own,” the leader said, referring to Akash’s remarks in which he referred to Gandhi and Yadav as “uncle”. Another leader said Akash had been planning to address more workers’ meetings and announce Assembly candidates across Uttar Pradesh in October-November to mobilise the party cadre ahead of the polls. With his removal, however, local party coordinators and district presidents are now expected to take up the task of addressing these meetings.