Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has expelled nephew Akash Anand from the party. In a post on X, she cited Akash favouring his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth over the party and Akash’s failure to repost one of her posts on X concerning Siddharth.
Mayawati had in August expelled Siddharth, a former Rajya Sabha MP, from the BSP.
A senior BSP functionary told ThePrint, “For the past two years, the party has been caught up in family drama. Behanji (Mayawati) inducts Akash (into the party), and then she removes or punishes him. There is no guarantee that she will not bring him back again.
“With elections just a few months away, we are still stuck in this family politics. How will we be able to take on the BJP and SP like this?”
The action against Akash came a week after Mayawati, on 3 September, removed him as the BSP’s national coordinator. She has now cancelled his primary membership of the BSP, severing his association with the party altogether.
This is the third major action by Mayawati against Akash in the past two years. She had earlier relieved him of key party responsibilities in May 2024 and March 2025. However, Akash was later re-inducted into the party and made national coordinator.
Explaining her decision, Mayawati said Thursday that Siddharth’s retirement from politics came too late. Had he retired earlier, Akash, the BSP and the broader Bahujan movement would not have had to repeatedly face difficult and adverse circumstances, she argued.
Mayawati also expressed displeasure over Akash’s response to her posts on X. She said he used to repost her regularly but did not do so this week when she posted about Siddharth.
1. आज श्री अशोक सिद्धार्थ द्वारा राजनीति से संन्यास लेने की घोषणा अति-देर से उठाया गया यह सही क़दम है।
2. वैसे लोगों का यही कहना है कि अगर यह फैसला वे काफी पहले ही ले लेते तो बी.एस.पी., बहुजन समाज व बहुजन मूवमेन्ट तथा उनके दामाद श्री आकाश आनन्द को भी लगातार विपरीत परिस्थितियों…
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 10, 2026
According to Mayawati, this was a clear indication that Akash was favouring family ties over the party. She asked how someone working with a ‘double mind’ could serve the interests of the BSP.
She also questioned Siddharth’s intentions, saying if he was genuinely concerned about Akash’s political future and the Bahujan movement, he should have retired from politics much earlier.
The BSP chief has now asked party workers to prepare for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and counter the tactics of political opponents. She called on BSP workers to work towards forming a government with a full majority while following the principle of ‘Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay’ (welfare, happiness for all).
On Wednesday, Mayawati had hinted on X that, if Ashok Siddharth were to retire from politics, it could help save son-in-law Akash’s political career. Later that evening, Siddharth announced his retirement from politics. But that did not help Akash’s case.
A source in BSP told ThePrint that Mayawati remains deeply hurt by what she sees as Siddharth’s ‘family politics’.
The BSP chief believes Siddharth and those close to Akash are driven more by family interests than by larger interests of the party and the Bahujan movement, said the source.
Also Read: The other nephew rises: Mayawati hands key BSP position to Ishan Anand days after removing Akash
Ishan Anand new ‘political heir’?
The latest move comes amid a significant reshuffle within the BSP’s top leadership.
Four days after removing Akash as national coordinator, Mayawati Monday appointed his younger brother Ishan Anand as the party’s chief sector in-charge. Ishan, 27, will review the party’s organisational work across states other than Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
According to BSP functionaries, he will submit organisational reports from these states to his father, Anand Kumar, who is the BSP’s national vice-president. These responsibilities were earlier handled by Akash as chief national coordinator.
BSP functionaries said speculation about Ishan’s growing role intensified after the BSP’s national executive meeting in Lucknow, where Ishan was also present. Ishan, they said, could emerge as Mayawati’s new successor.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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