'Arrogant, selfish': Mayawati expels nephew Akash Anand from BSP, day after removing him from key posts

Lucknow: A day after sacking her nephew Akash Anand—once her heir—as national coordinator of the BSP, Mayawati on Monday expelled him from the party itself saying that his reaction reeked of ‘arrogance’ and ‘selfishness’.

His expulsion comes on the heels of Anand taking to social media and writing a lengthy post reiterating his loyalty to Mayawati.

‘’Akash Anand should have repented his action and displayed maturity but instead his lengthy reaction shows his arrogance and selfish attitude and therefore in the interest of the party, he is expelled from the party like his father-in-law,’’ Mayawati said in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

‘’His (Akash) reaction shows that he is under the influence of his father-in-law,’’ she said.

Mayawati had, last year, expelled Akash Anand’s father-in-law and former Rajya Sabha member Ashok Siddharth from the party accusing him of indulging in ‘anti-party’ activities.

The BSP supremo had, on Sunday, stripped Akash of the post of national coordinator saying that he appeared to be working under the influence of Ashok Siddharth and said that she would not make any one her successor till she was alive.

‘’I have decided that no successor will be declared till I am alive. Relations, family don’t matter before party interests. For me the party comes first,’’ she said.

Akash Anand was sacked as the BSP national coordinator last year as well only to be reinstated a few months later.

Earlier in the day, Akash had posted a lengthy post on his social media account in which he reiterated his loyalty to Mayawati and said his removal from the party post was an ‘emotive’ issue for him.

‘’I respect every decision of Mayawati...it’s a challenge for me and I will continue to work for the Bahujan movement like a true worker of the party,’’ he had said.