Akash Anand’s BSP comeback No. 3: Here’s why Mayawati took him back yet again | Delhi News

A file photo shows BSP chief Mayawati with her nephew Akash Anand.

LUCKNOW: Akash Anand’s political career in the BSP is beginning to resemble a revolving door: out, back in, out again — and now, back in for the third time. On Monday, BSP chief Mayawati once again opened the party’s doors to her nephew, reinstating him as national coordinator just three days after he apologised and pledged loyalty to her leadership.The latest comeback is not merely another organisational reshuffle. It marks yet another reversal in the increasingly unpredictable political relationship between Mayawati and her chosen successor, with family ties, loyalty and political discipline repeatedly emerging at the centre of the equation.

The ‘comeback’ cycle

Akash Anand’s political journey with the BSP has already seen multiple exits and returns:

Within a month: He was taken back into the party and subsequently given important responsibilities.

Within a month: He was reinstated once more.

The pattern makes his latest return his third comeback after an expulsion, adding another chapter to a relationship that has repeatedly swung between political prominence and removal.

The family question

The immediate trigger this time was Anand’s failure to repost Mayawati’s September 9 appeal asking his father-in-law, Ashok Siddharth, to retire from politics.Mayawati viewed Anand’s silence differently from his earlier public expressions of loyalty. She said it suggested that he remained more attached to family ties than to the BSP and its movement, and questioned whether he could work effectively for the party while caught between the two.Siddharth subsequently retired from politics on September 10. But instead of restoring Anand, Mayawati removed him completely from the BSP.

From defiance to apology

Anand’s latest move appears to have been aimed at repairing that breach.In his Friday message, he called Mayawati his political guru, inspiration and paternal aunt, and declared that he would never join another political party. He also endorsed her decision regarding Siddharth and acknowledged that his silence over her post had been misunderstood.“If this has hurt you, then I seek forgiveness from you,” Anand said.He also made his political ambition clear: he wanted another opportunity to serve the BSP under Mayawati’s leadership.

Another chance — but with a warning

Mayawati accepted the apology after “much deliberation” and said the party had decided to give Anand another opportunity in the interest of the organisation and its movement.But her message also carried a reminder. She stressed that party discipline remained paramount and that even members of her own family had not been spared strict organisational decisions.For Anand, therefore, comeback No. 3 brings back the post — but also the same test that has shadowed his BSP career: whether he can turn repeated assurances of loyalty into sustained political discipline and action.

Steadying the BSP Before 2027

With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due in early 2027, Mayawati has little room for prolonged organisational churn. Her decision to bring Akash Anand back and restore him as national coordinator comes at a time when the BSP is preparing for the polls and trying to sharpen its organisational machinery.After repeatedly removing and reinstating her nephew, Mayawati has now chosen to put the latest rupture behind her, at least for the moment. Anand’s apology, his renewed pledge of loyalty and his endorsement of the action against his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth have helped clear the immediate roadblock.The timing, therefore, suggests an attempt to steady the BSP boat before the 2027 electoral battle, rather than allow another leadership crisis to consume the party’s attention.