Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) : Bahujan Samaj Party President and former Chief Minister Mayawati sprang a surprise yet again by reinstating her nephew as her political heir and naming him as the party national coordinator. The decision was announced at a review meeting of the BSP held in Lucknow, in which the party's leaders from different states took part.
In a statement, Mayawati said, "I am hopeful that now he (her nephew) will definitely emerge as a fully mature leader at every level in the interest of his party and movement. The people of the party will also now encourage him by giving him more respect and honour than before."
On May 7, during the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati removed Akash Anand from the 'larger responsibilities' of her successor and party national coordinator 'till he attains political maturity.' At that time, the BSP supremo said that Akash Anand was removed from those important posts in the larger interests of the party and also the movement for 'social change' that their party was committed. The first time Mayawati named Akash as her successor was towards the end of last year.
At today's party meeting, Mayawati reversed her May decision. She reviewed the reasons for the severe drubbing it received in the recent Lok Sabha elections in which the BSP drew a blank. At the beginning of the meeting, nephew Akash Anand touched Mayawati's feet and took her blessings. With this, his political exile ended. It is said that Mayawati has made Akash Anand a star campaigner in the upcoming elections in different states.
At the review meeting, the BSP supremo brainstormed with national-level leaders at the party office located at Mall Avenue in Lucknow on the reasons for the crushing electoral defeat. The meeting discussed why BSP performed so poorly, and which leaders were negligent in strengthening and preparing the party for the LS polls.
After the review meeting, Mayawati held separate meetings with the leaders from all the states to independently assess the reasons for the electoral rout in the respective states. Assembly elections are going to be held in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. In such a situation, Mayawati is making extensive changes in the party leadership teams of these states so that the party performs better in the assembly elections. If BSP does not get good results in these polls, it may lose the status of a national party.
In this meeting, Mayawati sought a solution to arrest the rapid fall in the graph of BSP. Mayawati made many important decisions regarding the upcoming elections, of which bringing his nephew to the forefront once again was one.
On Friday, the BSP released a list of 13-star campaigners for the July 10 by-elections on two assembly seats of Uttarakhand. In this list, Akash Anand was named star campaigner after Mayawati. Political circles saw it as a comeback of Mayawati's nephew to the centre stage of BSP politics.
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