Won't name successor in my lifetime: Mayawati removes nephew Akash from key BSP posts
Lucknow, Mar 2 (PTI): BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday removed her nephew Akash Anand from all party posts, appointing his father Anand Kumar and Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Gautam as national coordinators in his place, and said she would not name a successor in her lifetime.
The party is supreme and relations can come later, said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, who had sacked Akash Anand last year only to later reinstate him and appoint him her political successor.
Removing Akash Anand from all party posts, Mayawati hit out at his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth and said he had divided the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) into two groups and tried to weaken it, according to a party statement.
He also ruined the political career of Akash Anand, she said.
Mayawati last month expelled Siddharth from the BSP on charges of factionalism and anti-party activities.
She said she would not name a successor in her lifetime.
The party and the movement are supreme and relations like brother, sister and their children come later, she added.
Mayawati appointed her brother Anand Kumar and Ramji Gautam as national coordinators to oversee party affairs across India.
Appreciating Anand Kumar, who is also the BSP's national vice-president, she said he always worked with devotion for the party.
"Be it paperwork, Income Tax, court issues, all are handled by Anand Kumar, who quit his government job. He also looked after (BSP founder) Kanshi Ram when he was ill," she said.
Anand Kumar decided to marry his children into non-political families so that no one tries to damage the party like Siddharth did, she said.
The meeting was held to strengthen the BSP at all levels, expand its base with all sections of society and address organisational shortcomings, the BSP said in a statement.
During the meeting, Mayawati underlined the need to counter rising inflation, poverty, unemployment and backwardness, and alleged that these were being ignored by the government.
She also criticised the budgets of both the central and the Uttar Pradesh governments, saying they were "unrealistic" and detached from ground realities.
Government policies have failed to improve the lives of millions of poor, labourers, Dalits and backward communities, she said.
"India continues to be a country of the poor despite being called a rich nation," she said.
Reiterating the BSP's commitment to upholding the ideals of BR Ambedkar, Mayawati said her party would continue to work for the uplift of marginalised communities, according to the statement.
The meeting also outlined preparations for the birth anniversary celebrations of Kanshi Ram on March 15.
Party workers from various regions will pay tributes at designated memorial sites, including the Kanshi Ram Memorial in Lucknow and the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida.
Targeting the Samajwadi Party (SP), Mayawati said the party faced a humiliating defeat in the Milkipur assembly bypoll even when the BSP did not contest the election and asked whom the SP would blame for its loss.
"The SP and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. Only the BSP can defeat the BJP and other casteist parties with its Ambedkarwadi policy," she said.
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Post poll TN alliances divided in supporting TVK
Chennai (PTI): In a changed political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu with no single political party having a simple majority to form the government post the Assembly election, opinion is divided among the allies led by the Dravidian majors in extending external support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation.
Both the DMK and AIADMK are at unease as the Congress and also a section in the AIADMK express willingness to extend external support to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagtam in forming the government.
Post poll, the TVK's political prospects appear to impact alliances led by both the Dravidian majors in a different manner, triggering a speculation of a split.
Leema Rose Martin, who won from Lalgudi on an AIADMK ticket, has stated that talks were underway on extending support to the TVK. Her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakkam is TVK's general secretary.
On May 5, former AIADMK minister O S Manian, emerging from his meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, stated that AIADMK would not support TVK in forming the government.
The AIADMK, which finished third in the elections with 47 seats has cancelled its meeting of MLAs designate on Wednesday amidst a difference in extending external support to the TVK, which won 108 seats, including two seats by its founder Vijay.
As Vijay is gearing up for his swearing-in on May 7, the police have tightened security at his residence here. The party has lodged its MLA-elect at a resort in Mamallapuram and has simultaneously engaged in talks with the Congress and AIADMK, a source said.
The DMK that won 59 seats on its own, has convened a meeting of its newly elected legislators on May 7 evening and the party is likely to elect the youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, who won from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni as its legislature party leader.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal admitted that TVK chief Vijay requested the Congress for support to form the government.
"The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government, committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the government of Tamil Nadu in any manner. Thiru Vijay has also spoken about drawing inspiration from Perunthalaivar Kamaraj," he said.
Accordingly, the Congress leadership has directed the TNCC to take a final decision on Vijay’s request, keeping in view the sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict, Venugopal said in a statement.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress decision and said the move to ally with TVK, pledging the support of its five MLAs to the party, was tantamount to "backstabbing the DMK and the people of Tamil Nadu."
"They have betrayed the mandate given by the people. Even before the ink on the returning officer’s signature on the victory certificate has dried, they have chosen to go ahead with this alliance," he told PTI.
The most important question was who took this "foolhardy decision, and how is it going to backfire on the Congress?" he asked.
"I don’t think they had any serious deliberation on this. The larger issue is their opposition to the BJP, which is their ideological enemy. We have supported the Congress throughout. It was our leader M K Stalin, who named Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate when the BJP and RSS were criticising him. And now, within a day, they say they are supporting TVK. This is not the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Saravanan said.
The Congress' exit from its long-standing alliance with the DMK will be a significant moment in the political scenario of the state, commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman said.
The Congress may be betting on the TVK as a long-term partner option, but that comes with risks, as the TVK is as yet an unknown quantity, he said.
"For the DMK, if the TVK+Congress becomes the choice of the minorities as it well could, it is an existential threat. It was the minority vote that gave the DMK alliance a 12%-15% cushion in the polls. If that goes, their chances of winning drops dramatically," Raman said on 'X.'
The Congress won 5 seats. However, DMK's other allies, the IUML, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) and DMDK have categorically stated that they would not support TVK.
As of now, the TVK requires the support of 11 MLAs to attain a simple majority of 118 to form the government.
The PMK, which won 4 seats and AMMK one - both allies of AIADMK - have not announced their decision yet.
"AIADMK’s real post-result drama may not be outside the party, but inside it. Whispers from the west and north suggest that a Coimbatore hand and a Villupuram voice may soon ask the question everyone is avoiding: Is it time to save the party from the leadership, before the cadre are forced to do it themselves? In politics, coups don’t begin with slogans. They begin with silence, phone calls and “review meetings,” Aspire Swaminathan, who is credited with founding the AIADMK IT wing in 2014, said on 'X.'
He has resigned from the AIADMK in 2021 and now acts an as independent political analyst.
