Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar has been appointed as vice-president of the party and nephew Akash Anand as the national coordinator.
Earlier, Mayawati had named Anand Kumar as vice-president of the party but had rolled back her decision after allegations of dynastic politics were levelled against her.
The elevation of Mayawati’s nephew is being seen as a sign of his growing influence in the party as he is reportedly among the front-runners to take over the party after her.
When Akash was included in the list of party’s star campaigners ahead of Lok Sabha polls, a BSP leader had said, “Akash’s inclusion in the star campaigners’ list could be the beginning of an exercise to give him some big post in the near future.”
Mayawati also appointed party MP from Amroha, Danish Ali, as the leader of BSP in the Lok Sabha. She also appointed senior BSP leader Ramji Gautam as national coordinator of the party. The move gains significance as it comes ahead of the bypolls to 12 Assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh and the party’s attempt to revive its cadre as well as attract youth. Nagina MP Girish Chandra has been appointed chief whip of the party in the lower House.
Danish Ali, a close aide of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, is considered instrumental in stitching the BSP-JDS alliance for the assembly polls in Karnataka. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he had joined the BSP.
The decision to appoint new faces was taken at a two-hour-long national convention of the BSP held at party headquarters in Lucknow on Sunday. It was attended by party’s newly-elected MPs, MLAs and key post-holders from across the country.
Mayawati presided over the meeting called to chalk out a strategy for the coming by-elections to 11 Assembly seats of UP. Senior leaders and all members of Parliament were present in the meeting along with BSP state presidents from across the country. The leaders were asked to leave their bags, mobile phones, vehicle keys and any digital devices they were carrying outside the meeting hall.
The BSP meeting also discussed the issue of holding elections through ballot papers in place of electronic voting machines (EVMs). Senior leaders Sukhdev Rajbhar, Afzal Ansari, Sudhindra Bhadoria, Lalji Verma and Nakul Dubey were present in the meeting.
Mayawati had recently announced that the BSP would contest the by-elections to 11 UP Assembly, saying that her ally Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party’s vote base did not support the alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. The BSP managed to win 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the SP five while the third ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal, drew a blank.
The suave 24-year-old Akash, who is now a regular in BSP’s official engagements, was introduced to party leaders by Mayawati in 2017 when she told them that he had returned from London after doing his MBA and he would look after the party affairs.
Akash, son of Mayawati’s younger brother Anand, made his public debut in May 2017, when he accompanied Mayawati to Saharanpur. In September 2017, he shared the stage with her and his father at a Meerut rally.
After the alliance with Samajwadi Party for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Akash became more active and was credited with launching Mayawati on Twitter.
He was seen with his aunt during election rallies. On April 16, after the Election Commission banned Mayawati for campaigning for 48 hours over a Model Code of Conduct violation, Akash also addressed a rally with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Ajit Singh in Agra.
Uttar Pradesh will witness bypolls to 12 Assembly seats that have been vacated by MLAs who have been elected to the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party criticised the appointments of Mayawati’s family members as party office-bearers and accused the BSP of practising dynastic politics.
“Whether it is Congress, SP or BSP, these are family owned enterprises... they don’t represent India or the Indian people,” said UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.