After Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday removed nephew Akash Anand as the party's national co-ordinator and her successor "until he attains full maturity," reactions came in from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over the BSP supremo's move on the day of the third phase of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP dubbed the BSP a "private limited company" saying that Mayawati makes decisions the way she wants. BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said that the way Akash Anand was making irresponsible statements and making insulting comments about the saffron party, there was a sense of anger in the public related to that.
Taking a swipe at the BSP chief, Tripathi said, "Will she be able to hand over the leadership of the party to a normal dalit and take the party forward? Time will tell whether Mayawati ji will be able to movae out of the allure of dynastic politics or not".
"Mayawati ji runs the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) like a private limited company. That is why she makes decisions the way she wants. The way Akash Anand was making irresponsible statements and making insulting comments about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), there was a sense of anger in the public related to that. Mayawati ji felt this and removed Akash Anand from the important duties. But Mayawati ji, who considered her party like a mission, which later got converted into a commission, will she be able to make a change in it? Will she be able to hand over the leadership of the party to a normal dalit and take the party forward? Time will tell whether Mayawati ji will be able to movae out of the allure of dynastic politics or not, Rakesh Tripathi said.
The decision comes days after the party cancelled all the political rallies of Akash. Akash had started the BSP campaign from Nagina Lok Sabha seat on 6 April. He addressed several rallies in western and eastern Uttar Pradesh, including Agra, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh and Kaushambi. Mayawati also said that Akash's father Anand Kumar will continue to perform his duties in the party like before.
The Congress called the decision "very shocking" and asked, "Did you take this step under some pressure from the BJP?". "The way BSP chief Mayawati has removed her nephew Akash Anand from party coordinator post is very shocking. Did you take this step under some pressure from the BJP? Though this is an internal matter of your party, you should issue a clarification about this," Congress leader Surendra Singh Rajput said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Last month, a case was registered against Akash Anand on April 28 for allegedly using unparliamentary words and making a statement to create enmity between people during a rally in Sitapur. Anand had attacked out at the BJP in his speech.