Who is Akash Anand, Mayawati's nephew and BSP's new supremo?
Mayawati has named her nephew, Akash Anand, as her successor to lead the BSP. Akash Anand will oversee the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in states except for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Know all about him.
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FollowBahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday named her nephew, Akash Anand, as her political heir. Akash Anand has been in charge of the party’s affairs in Rajasthan since last year. He will oversee the Bahujan Samaj Party in states except for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Mayawati will continue to monitor these two states.
Akash, 28, has been observed in party circles on several occasions and has the formal post of BSP's national coordinator. Going by Akash Anand's official X account, he describes himself as "A young supporter of Baba Saheb's vision".
Since August of this year, Akash Anand's presence at the state-level review meeting in Lucknow has been considered as another indication of his rising prominence in the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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The meeting, which was presided over by Mayawati, was organised to assess the party's preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.
Mayawati confirmed Akash Anand's entry into the party in January 2019. Later, in June, Mayawati's brother Anand Kumar was appointed vice-president of the party, and nephew Akash Anand was appointed national coordinator; the party also elected Danish Ali (who was suspended on Saturday for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities) as the leader of the BSP in Lok Sabha.
In 2019, Akash Anand addressed his first political rally, encouraging people to support the Samajwadi Party-BSP-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance, when the Election Commission imposed a 48-hour campaign ban on Mayawati.
In 2022, Anand's name figured at the second place in the list of BSP’s star campaigners for the Himachal Pradesh assembly election. He was also entrusted with the task of gearing up the party cadre for the coming assembly elections in different states.
