Lucknow: With assembly elections due in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab early next year, BSP president Mayawati has assigned separate responsibilities to her two nephews, Akash and Ishan Anand, who will be involved in the party’s campaign for elections in all three states, but in different roles.While Akash Anand, who is also the national convener of the party, will hold public meetings in UP from Oct 28 as the young face of the party, his younger sibling, Ishan, will take care of the legal matters of the party during elections, as Mayawati has already announced.Akash has been the young face of the party in several state assembly elections since May 2019, when he became the national coordinator. In Uttarakhand and Punjab, he has campaigned in previous elections and may know the politics of the two states.In UP, this will be his first campaign for any assembly election. Also, the party matters in UP are directly looked after by Mayawati.It is, therefore, under her supervision and guidance that two young faces of BSP will carry out their roles in UP.According to sources in the party, while a lot of candidates want Akash Anand to seek votes for them and campaign in their constituencies, Ishan is less well known on that front.“He has not been discovered by party people yet,” said a party functionary.Ishan has never held any public meetings anywhere. He was made the national office-bearer recently, when Mayawati appointed him as the party’s national coordinator on Sept 23. Reason why Mayawati may keep him away from public scrutiny this time.Because BSP has gone through a lot in recent months, given the controversies which happened in Mayawati’s family, people in the party hope that the two would follow the directions of the party chief and not tread their own path.This, however, may also affect the content of Akash Anand’s speeches which have been fiery and anti-establishment so far and for which the youths follow him.
