Maya signals return to grassroots politics as BSP gears up for polls

BSP national president Mayawati in the recently held all-India meeting of the party Lucknow: After removing her nephew and national convener Akash Anand from the party, BSP president Mayawati appears to take a more active role in the party’s affairs ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.Her recent post on X about going out and meeting people affected by natural calamities in UP took many in the party by surprise. This is because she hasn’t engaged with the public on the ground since May 2017, when Dalits and Thakurs clashed in Saharanpur.Her public interaction has been limited to addressing rallies and seeking feedback from local-level party functionaries.Party sources believe that it will not be a challenge for Mayawati, a mass leader and four-time chief minister of UP, to “convert the support for BSP into votes”.A party functionary said: “Behenji has a huge appeal. Though she was moving less after Akash Anand came up in the party but now, that the party leaders want her to lead from the front, she is ready to go back to grassroots-level politics, her forte.”“There may be more tours of her coming up in UP this time ahead of the elections,” he added.Though Mayawati always had full control over BSP, the family feud over ownership of the party is now out in the open.When she dilly-dallied on whom, out of her two nephews and niece, to give a responsibility in the party and whom to keep out, her “iron-lady leadership” also took a beating.To overcome that and restore the faith of the party’s rank and file in her, she has made it clear that every party worker is equal in her eyes, even the newly appointed national coordinator, Ishan Anand, her other nephew.The changes were visible in the recent all-India meeting of the party, held in Lucknow on Sept 23, when all the office-bearers were made to sit together with Mayawati facing them.It was not the case when Akash Anand was the national-level office-bearer of the party. He used to sit away with some senior office-bearers of the party.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Lucknow | Silver Rate in Lucknow | Bank Holidays in Lucknow | Public Holidays in Lucknow | Lucknow AQI | Weather in Lucknow | Petrol Price in Lucknow | Diesel Price in Lucknow | CNG Price in Lucknow | LPG Price in LucknowStay updated with the latest Lucknow news. Download the TOI App.