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Mayawati removes nephew from key BSP post, believes he 'requires further maturity'
The decision marks a setback for Akash Anand, whom Mayawati had elevated to a key BSP position in August 2025.
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Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday removed her nephew, Akash Anand, 31, as the party's chief national coordinator for the third time since 2024, months after she reinstated him in March following his removal from other key posts and expulsion.
Mayawati said Anand requires more maturity and entrusting him with major party responsibilities at this stage would be inappropriate. "Time is needed to ensure the party is not harmed in elections by opponents employing tactics such as conciliation, bribery, force, and division to undermine it," she said at a BSP meeting in Lucknow, where she introduced her younger nephew, Ishan Anand, to the party leaders.
In May 2024, Mayawati removed Akash Anand from the national coordinator post during the Lok Sabha election campaign and said he is no longer her successor. The move came after a hate speech case was lodged against him for the alleged "use of unparliamentary language" in criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Mayawati reinstated Akash Anand after eight months in August 2024 and entrusted him with leading the campaign in the assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.
Mayawati named Ramji Gautam, Randhir Singh Beniwal and Raja Ram as national coordinators after sacking Akash Anand in March and expelling him from the party.
She reinstated Akash Anand and reappointed him chief national coordinator in May 2025. The BSP planned to woo the younger Gen Z voters by promoting him to the top organisational post. Akash Anand was asked to counter the increasing influence of the Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekar Azad over the Dalit community.
Akash Anand's fresh removal came days after the BSP launched the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign with his two rallies in Hathras and Gautam Buddha Nagar on August 10 and 25. Mayawati has groomed him as her political successor since 2017. She first appointed him as the national coordinator in June 2019. In December 2023, she named Akash Anand as her political heir.
People aware of the matter said a family feud and infighting in the party led to Akash Anand's fresh removal. On August 2, Mayawati expelled Akash Anand's father-in-law, former lawmaker Ashok Siddharth, from the party for anti-party activities. Mayawati said Siddhartha will not be taken back into the party under any circumstances. She also expelled Beniwal, the BSP in charge in poll-bound Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, over anti-party activities.
Mayawati, who won a clear five-year mandate to rule Uttar Pradesh in 2007, has maintained an iron grip over the party despite growing erosion in BSP's support base. BSP's lone lawmaker in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh died in August. The party has no seats in Parliament.
Mayawati, 70, has made it clear that she will continue to lead the party despite demands from the party cadre to promote younger leadership. She told party leaders that she will finalise the candidates for the 2027 assembly election, devise the election campaign, and monitor the fundraising.
