BSP supremo Mayawati with her nephew Akash Anand during meeting with party leaders and workers, in Lucknow on February 7, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati hit out at her nephew Akash Anand on Sunday accusing him of spreading what she described as false rumours about her health. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, the four-time Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that the expelled party leader had called her personal secretary, Alok Kumar, and asked whether she was unwell.
“Those expelled from the party spread the rumor. A rumor about my being ill is spreading within the party. The office in-charge received a call from Akash Anand. He asked about my health. The office-in-charge told him that I was doing fine and busy with party work. At this, Akash hung up after asking that ‘Behen ji’ (the BSP president) not be informed of this conversation,” Ms. Mayawati told a press conference in Lucknow.
The allegations came days after the BSP president Ms. Mayawati removed Akash Anand from the party, shortly after his father-in-law and former Rajya Sabha member Ashok Siddharth announced his retirement from politics. The BSP removed Mr. Anand as national coordinator on September 3.
The BSP chief urged BSP workers to mobilise for the upcoming elections; she said that Akash Anand is still taking direction from his father-in-law and is not using his own mind.
“We have to form the government in Uttar Pradesh; workers should take the progressive ideas of Kanshi Ram Ji to the masses and communicate to them the achievements of the previous BSP governments,” Ms. Mayawati added.
Akash Anand — the son of Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar and once her chosen political successor — had been entrusted with key party responsibilities but was removed multiple times since 2024. While Mayawati had recently stated he could continue only as an ordinary party worker, and not in any leadership position.
Published – September 13, 2026 11:00 pm IST
