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New Delhi: In yet another twist to the murky internal family politics of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leadership, party chief Mayawati on September 10 announced that she had cut loose her nephew, Akash Anand – once her heir-apparent – from the party, saying he was free to do as he pleased. Mayawati also publicly humiliated Anand’s father-in-law and former BSP MP, Ashok Siddharth, despite him giving in to her demand of retiring from politics to save Anand’s political future.

The move to virtually ask her nephew to leave the party came a week after Mayawati – for the third time in two years – removed him from the post of National Coordinator. The latest round of family drama began on September 3, when Mayawati, at an all-India review meeting of her party in Lucknow, made two major decisions.

She removed Anand as national coordinator, arguing that he required more “maturity” and that it would be improper to entrust him with major party responsibilities at this stage. On the same day, Mayawati introduced Anand’s younger brother, Ishan Anand, to party workers and handed him new responsibilities as a chief sector in-charge.

On September 9, Mayawati issued a statement accusing Siddharth of prioritising his personal and familial ambitions over the BSP’s mission, a choice for which both he and Anand had to bear the consequences.

“Ultimately, in pursuit of his personal interests, he never truly cared for Akash Anand or the BSP movement. Ideally, Ashok Siddharth should have set an exemplary standard of sacrifice and dedication for the party and society – surpassing that of others – but the reality has been quite the opposite,” Mayawati said.

She then laid down an explicit condition: only if Siddharth completely retired from politics would she consider restoring Anand’s previous responsibilities.

“Given the circumstances, and keeping in mind the interests of the BSP party and movement as well as the future of his own family and son-in-law Akash Anand, Ashok Siddharth still has an opportunity to set aside his political ambitions, rise above personal interests, and retire completely from politics,” she stated.

“Only then would it be possible for Mr. Akash Anand to work freely within the party; the party would then sympathetically consider restoring his responsibilities so that he could play an active role.”

BSP supporters believed this statement........

© The Wire