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No immediate big plans for ‘pardoned’ Akash Anand, Mayawati sharpens focus on 2027 Uttar Pradesh polls
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati asks party leaders to strengthen cadre base in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati on Wednesday hinted that her nephew Akash Anand has been pardoned for his previous mistakes and re-inducted into the party fold, but this does not mean that he will be immediately considered for bigger plans.
She also asked the party leaders to strengthen the BSP’s cadre base ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls.
The BSP chief made these remarks during a meeting with senior party functionaries and district presidents from Uttar Pradesh and the neighbouring Uttarakhand. At the meeting, she reviewed the party’s organisational structure in both states. Akash Anand was reportedly not allowed to attend the special meeting held at the BSP state headquarters at Lucknow’s Mall Avenue.
Akash Anand was expelled from the BSP in March. On April 13, he publicly apologised to Mayawati in a series of posts on X and requested an opportunity to work for the party again, prompting her to write on the same platform that he was being given another chance.
The next assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held in February and March 2027. Following the party’s poor performance in 2024 Lok Sabha polls where it failed to win a single seat, the BSP is making an effort to revive its base in U.P. and Uttarakhand. The BSP has had four stints in power in Uttar Pradesh since 1995. Its longest spell in office was from 2007-2012 when it formed a majority government in Uttar Pradesh. On the three other occasions – 1995, 1997 and 2002-03 – it ruled in alliance with the BJP. Mayawati headed the government on all four occasions.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Mayawati also called upon the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand BJP governments to uphold their constitutional responsibilities and prioritise the welfare of the people and the nation.
She criticised the “double engine” Uttar Pradesh government, accusing it of focusing on specific regions and groups rather than working for the overall development of the state’s poor and marginalised communities. She drew parallels with the previous Samajwadi Party government, suggesting a similar pattern of selective development.
“The double engine BJP government, instead of working according to the proper interest, welfare and development of crores of poor Bahujans of the entire society, is dedicated only to some areas and people of a particular group, just like the SP government, and also wants to appear like that, due to which the much-needed and much-awaited development of U.P. is getting affected,” she said.
Mayawati contrasted the current government’s approach with the BSP’s past administrations, which she claimed had prioritised justice and equitable development for all sections of society, particularly Dalits, backward classes, women, farmers, and the unemployed.
She said that the social, economic and political conditions of the ‘Bahujans’ (Dalits and Backwards) in the country were as pathetic under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule as under the Congress in the past. She called for the Dalit, Adivasis, and all the neglected people in society to be “true missionary Ambedkarites” to free themselves from the oppression and injustice.
The BSP leader commended party members for their dedication to celebrating the birth anniversaries of Dalit icons Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, expressing her gratitude for their commitment to the party’s mission.
