E-Paper
BSP's Mayawati expels Ashok Siddharth from party again over anti-party activities
The party’s national coordinator Randhir Singh Beniwal, who was in charge of the organisation in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, also expelled.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati on Sunday expelled senior party leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Siddharth from the party on charges of anti-party activities for the second time in nearly 18 months and made it clear he will not be taken back into the party under any circumstances in the future.
National coordinator Randhir Singh Beniwal, who was in-charge of the party in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, has also been expelled on the charge of anti-party activities. Mayawati made the announcement on X.
Siddharth is the father-in-law of Akash Anand, Mayawati’s nephew and BSP national convener. Siddharth was in charge of party affairs in Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal.
Mayawati had expelled Siddharth from the party in February 2025 and reinstated him in September of that year.
Also read: Candidate selection rests with me, not Akash Anand: Mayawati
Expelled over alleged indiscipline
In a post on X on Sunday, Mayawati said he did not fulfil his duties properly in the states where he was given responsibility as a BSP coordinator. “Not only in Karnataka but also from Odisha and West Bengal, reports of his indiscipline—that is, violation of party directives—kept coming in continuously. Since no improvement was observed despite repeated warnings, Ashok Siddharth was relieved of all party responsibilities on Saturday,” she said.
Also read: Focus should be on reforming education system, not Pradhan’s resignation: BSP chief Mayawati
After this, the reports of his return to UP are a deliberate conspiracy to create confusion within the party and affect the campaign for the upcoming UP assembly elections, the BSP president said.
