Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati on Sunday appointed her brother Anand Kumar the party’s national vice president, and named her nephew Akash Anand its national coordinator, PTI reported.
Former Janata Dal (Secular) leader and Amroha MP Danish Ali will be the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha while the parliamentarian from Nagina in Uttar Pradesh, Girish Chandra, was appointed chief whip. The Bahujan Samaj Party chief had announced her nephew’s induction into the party in January. He is seen as one of her probable successors. At the time, Mayawati had accused “some casteist and anti-Dalit section of media” for questioning Akash Anand’s entry into the party.
Danish Ali joined the party from the Janata Dal (Secular) in March after leading seat-sharing talks between the two parties. Ali was considered close to the southern party’s leader and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and was the party’s face in Delhi. At the time, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had said Ali had joined the Bahujan Samaj Party with his and his father HD Deve Gowda’s consent “in a purely political arrangement between the two parties”.
The Bahujan Samaj Party’s decisions were taken at a two-hour meeting during its national convention at its headquarters in Lucknow, News18 reported. The meeting was attended by newly elected MPs, state legislators, and key office-bearers from across the country. The party also reportedly discussed its opposition to electronic voting machines.
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