"It's her responsibility to run party smoothly ...": UP Minister Rajbhar backs Mayawati's decision to remove Akash Anand from all BSP posts

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 2 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday backed BSP chief Mayawati's decision to remove Akash Anand from all party posts, saying it was ultimately Mayawati's call as party head.
Rajbhar acknowledged that Mayawati has the authority to make decisions as she sees fit, emphasising that the party's interests should always come first.
"Mayawati is the head of the party (BSP), she has to run the party. She is making decisions according to her wishes. The party is always paramount; it is her responsibility to run the party smoothly," said Rajbhar while speaking with ANI.
This development comes after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati announced significant changes in the party leadership on Sunday during a high-level meeting in Lucknow. Mayawati removed her nephew Akash Anand from all party posts and appointed her brother Anand Kumar and Ramji Gautam as national coordinators to oversee party affairs across the country.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Dinesh Sharma said the decision was taken in the interest of the party and described Mayawati as a mature politician.
"This is an internal matter of Bahujan Samaj Party, and Mayawati is a mature politician, she understands the good and bad of her party. I think whatever she would have done, she would have done it in the interest of her party...", he told ANI.
Mayawati announced the appointment of Anand Kumar and Ramji Gautam as the National Coordinators of the party.
In a press release dated March 2, Mayawati said she is expelling Ashok Siddharth, Akash Anand's father-in-law, for "factionalism."
"Being an honest and loyal disciple and successor of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, I have expelled Ashok Siddharth, who is also the father-in-law of Akash Anand, from the party in the interest of the party. He has done this heinous act of weakening the party by dividing it into two factions in the entire country, including Uttar Pradesh, which is absolutely intolerable, and all this was also seen in the wedding of his son."
Mayawati said that Akash's father-in-law, Ashok Siddharth, is completely responsible for this decision.
"In such a situation, in the interest of the party that Akash Anand be been separated from all the responsibilities of the party, for which not the party but his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth is completely responsible and which has damaged the political career of Akash Anand along with causing damage to the party," Mayawati further said.
"And now, in his place, Anand Kumar will continue to do all the work of the party like before. He will continue to do all the work of the party during my visits to Lucknow and outside. He has not disappointed me in any matter until now, and he has not caused any harm to the party and the movement until now," she added in the letter.
In June 2024, Mayawati made her nephew Akash Anand her sole successor and entrusted him with the responsibility of party National Coordinator.
Earlier, too, Mayawati had removed Akash from all the important posts of the party on May 7, 2024, in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, calling him immature. (ANI)