New Delhi:

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s nephew Akash Anand is no longer her political heir or the party’s National Coordinator. The 29-year-old got sacked this evening, days after his comment comparing the BJP with Taliban. There is a hope of reprieve though, his aunt indicated.  

“In the same sequence, along with promoting other people in the party, I declared Shri Akash Anand as the National Coordinator and successor, but in the larger interest of the party and the movement, he is being separated from both these important responsibilities until he attains full maturity,” the BSP chief posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Mr Anand’s comments about the BJP had made headlines last week. A case was filed against him for Model Code violation.

“This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors,” he had said.

“The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan,” the BSP leader had added. The BJP is a party of thieves that took Rs 6,000 crore through electoral bonds, he further alleged.

The district administration took note of the speech and a case of Model Code of Conduct violation was filed against Mr Anand and four others on Sunday. Three of the others were party candidates and the fourth was a leader who organised the rally where Mr Anand was speaking.

Ms Mayawati had named her nephew as her political heir in December last year.

Akash Anand had officially entered politics in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Before that he had attended multiple BSP events and accompanied his aunt on the campaign for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election.