Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has entrusted her nephew Akash Anand with the task of mobilising the party in the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Akash Anand, who is the party's national coordinator, has been directed to restructure the organisation in these states.
Assembly polls in Gujarat will be held at the end of this year while Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in 2023.
According to a party functionary, the assembly polls in these states will serve as a launch pad for Akash Anand who is being positioned as the number two in the BSP.
Mayawati has been grooming her nephew in politics after he returned from London in 2017 where he was pursuing his MBA.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he managed the election campaign strategy of the BSP chief while in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign, he handled social media activities of the party.
Akash was appointed the BSP's national coordinator in 2019 when Mayawati rejigged the party organisation after breaking alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
He is not a very visible face in the party but has been managing the party affairs from behind the scenes.
He accompanied Mayawati during the election campaign and was also seen with her during election rallies.
Akash has campaigned in MP during the municipal polls there. He addressed public meetings in various districts. In the meeting with party state unit leaders, he instructed them to raise public issues and strengthen the organisation during a membership drive.
In the 2018 polls, the BSP had failed to open its account in Madhya Pradesh though in the 2013 assembly election, it bagged four seats.
At present, Akash is on a tour of Rajasthan and is holding meetings in various districts there. The BSP state unit organisation is being rejigged at the district level to galvanise the party cadre for the assembly election.
The BSP, which had won six seats in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly election, has set focus on Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur, Nagaur, Ganganagar, Barmer, Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts which have large number of Dalit voters.
Mayawati has directed Akash to hold meetings in various districts to collect feedback from the workers and to mobilise the party cadre for election.
"The BSP has also set its focus on Gujarat where the assembly election will be held later this year. Again, Akash is leading the party's fight to make inroads into the Dalit and tribal dominated areas. He has held a series of meetings," the party functionary said. —IANS