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Maya tasks nephew Akash with gearing up BSP cadre for polls in three states
While the assembly polls in Gujarat will be held at the end of this year, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in 2023
Ahead of assembly polls in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has entrusted her nephew and party’s national coordinator Akash Anand with the task of restructuring the organisation and gearing up the party cadre in these states.
While the assembly polls in Gujarat will be held at the end of this year, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in 2023. “The assembly election in three states will be the launch pad for Akash in the electoral battle,” said a BSP leader.
He added the party chief had been grooming her nephew in politics after he returned from London in 2017 where he was pursuing his MBA. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he managed the election campaign strategy of the BSP chief while in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign, he handled social media activities of the party, the BSP leader said.
Akash, who was made the BSP’s national coordinator in 2019 when Mayawati rejigged the party organisation after breaking alliance with the Samajwadi Party, has not been at the forefront but has been managing the party affairs from behind the curtain.
He accompanied Mayawati during the election campaign and was also seen with her during election rallies. “The BSP chief has decided to gear him for bigger responsibilities of the party by entrusting him with the election responsibilities of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh”, a BSP leader said.
These days Akash is on a whirlwind tour of Rajasthan holding meetings in various districts there. The BSP state unit organisation is being rejigged at the district level to galvanise the party cadre for the assembly election.
The BSP, which had won six seats in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly election, has set focus on Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur, Nagaur, Ganganagar, Barmer, Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts which have large Dalit voters.
Earlier, Akash campaigned in the Madhya Pradesh during the municipal polls there. He addressed public meetings in various districts. In the meeting with party state unit leaders, he instructed them to raise public issues and strengthen the organisation during a membership drive.
Mayawati has directed Akash to hold meetings in various districts to collect feedback from the workers and to mobilise the party cadre for election. In the 2018 polls, the BSP had failed to open its account in Madhya Pradesh though in the 2013 assembly election it had bagged four seats.
“The BSP has also set its focus on Gujarat where the assembly election will be held later this year. Again, Akash is leading the party’s fight to make inroad into the Dalit and tribal dominated areas of the state. He has held a series of meetings in various districts. Once the assembly election schedule is announced, he will address a number of meetings in the state,” the BSP leader said.
BSP chief Mayawati, who is camping in Delhi, held meetings with leaders and office bearers of the state unit of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to review the preparations for the assembly election. Addressing a press conference in August 2021, Mayawati had said her successor will be from the Dalit community “who supported me and the party during the hard times with honesty”.
