BSP supremo Mayawati has appointed two of her relatives in key posts in the party. Today she gave away the two most important party positions of the national vice-president and national coordinator to her brother, Anand Kumar and nephew, Akash Anand respectively.
Along with her 24-year-old nephew Akash Anand, former party VP Ramji Gautam was also chosen as BSP’s national coordinator. Moreover, the JD(s) turncoat, Danish Ali was elected as leader of Bahujan Samaj Party in Lok Sabha.
Danish Ali has been elected as the leader of BSP in Lok Sabha. Anand Kumar appointed as the Vice President of the party. Akash Anand and Ramji Gautam to be the National Coordinator of BSP. pic.twitter.com/s5FvENI98u
— ANI (@ANI) June 23, 2019
Akash made his first public appearance in 2016 when he accompanied Mayawati to Saharanpur. The 24-year-old nephew also shared the stage with her during a rally in Meerut in February 2017. According to sources, Akash’s induction to the party was a part of Mayawati’s bigger strategy of attracting young voters towards the BSP.
Mayawati’s nephew’s elevation is being considered crucial as it is speculated that he would eventually be the front-runner to take over the party reigns after the BSP chief. In January 2019, unfazed by the criticism Mayawati had inducted her nephew Akash Anand, an undergraduate from a university in London, into the party.
In April 2019, during the last day of campaigning for the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Akash had replaced the BSP chief in an election rally. Mayawati didn’t attend the Agra rally due to a ban by EC and instead, she had sent him as her representative to the rally with her message. She asked her followers to give her nephew due to honour as they would have given her.
Basically, being a shrewd politician that she is, she used the EC ban as a blessing in disguise, for formally launching her nephew Akash Anand into politics.
In India, dynastic succession in political parties is the key to keep the fibres of patronage intact, Congress party being the utmost examples of this approach.
In a similar development, taking the tradition forward, Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy had appointed his uncle Y V Subba Reddy as the Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Trust Board.
Moreover, a similar strategy was also followed by West Bengal CM, Mamata Banerjee who had appointed her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the head of her party’s youth wing in 2012.
