New Delhi: At a time when there is a question mark on the future of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the party functionaries got a surprise Thursday when they saw Mayawati’s other nephew Ishan Anand in a review meeting of the Uttar Pradesh unit.
Ishan, the younger brother of Akash Anand, had attended a press conference Wednesday organised on the occasion of the BSP supremo’s 69th birthday in Lucknow.
Even as Mayawati clarified that she brought Ishan along with other family members as he wanted to meet her on birthday, a section in the BSP considered it a beginning of “political internship” for Ishan.
“When we all noticed Ishan on Behan ji‘s birthday event that time we thought he came only to wish her, but now his presence in a state review meeting looks political. Though Behan ji did not announce (anything), but party workers are considering it as a beginning of his political training,” a senior BSP functionary told ThePrint.
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Ishan’s presence was important as “we all know that no one can enter Behan ji’s meeting without her consent,” a senior BSP leader, who attended the party meeting, told ThePrint.
“Ishan was also carrying a diary and pen just like any other BSP worker. So, it clearly means there is some plan of inducting him in the party officially. Maybe, she (Mayawati) will announce it later,” the BSP leader added.
Ishan is the younger brother of BSP national coordinator Akash Anand. The 24-year-old is helping his brother in business, party insiders said. Both Akash and Ishan are sons of Mayawati’s younger brother Anand Kumar, who is a vice-president in the BSP.
As for Akash, he came in the spotlight in 2017 when Mayawati introduced him to BSP workers at a political rally. She formally inducted him into the party two years later. Akash was part of all meetings of the Samajwadi Party and the BSP during their alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
BSP state president Vishwanath Pal, however, denied that it was an official entry of Mayawati’s second nephew. “Ishan just came to wish Behan ji on her birthday. He stayed along with his brother Akash (and) so attended the meeting. We are only aware that he recently finished his studies. So, he wanted to meet Behan ji on birthday. We have no information about his political entry,” he told ThePrint.
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A new role for the nephews?
Sources in the BSP claimed that to debunk a narrative of the party’s decline, Mayawati is planning to give responsibilities to both of her nephews before the 2027 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
“For our party, the 2027 UP polls are very important. We have to unite our cadre and give them a hope that we can win these polls. For that we should infuse new blood in the party. To support Akash ji, we need someone who has the high command’s trust. What is wrong with it? Rahul Gandhi has Priyanka’s support; Mulayam Singh had Shivpal’s support, Rajnath’s both sons are working in the BJP UP unit… then why can’t Behan ji think about it? If she gives any responsibility to Ishan, the party cadre will welcome it,” a senior BSP state functionary told ThePrint.
In May last year, Mayawati removed Akash as her political heir as well as the party’s national coordinator, saying that he needs to attain “maturity” before assuming such important roles. The BSP supremo then did a U-turn the next month, as she reinstated Akash after her party failed to open its account in the Lok Sabha polls.
Political analyst Shilp Shikha Singh said it was not easy to guess Mayawati’s move but now her party needs a serious revamp plan before the 2027 polls as its performance is continuously declining
“Whether she inducts her another nephew or not, that is her choice; more than that their activeness on ground is more necessary. In politics, now cadres accept top family members everywhere but in BSP’s case, the party’s campaign narrative needs improvement,” the assistant professor at Lucknow’s Giri Institute of Development Studies told ThePrint.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BSP managed just 2.07 percent vote share. It won only one seat in the 2022 UP elections and tallied merely 12.9 percent of the total votes polled in the northern state.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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