Heir (Half) Apparent

Saffron is not the only political colour that’s seeing a new coat of paint.

- Prashant Srivastava

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which continued its dismal run of form in the recent elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, is also gearing up for a generational shift. On December 10, at a Lucknow meeting convened to take stock of preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, BSP supremo Mayawati named her 28-year-old nephew Akash Anand as her heir. The BSP’s national coordinator now, Akash has been tasked with strengthening the party ahead of the summer polls, say those who attended the meeting. There’s no change in his designation as such. But by projecting the young leader as the future BSP chief, the 67-year-old

Mayawati is hoping to reinvigorate the cadre, who seem to have gone into limbo after getting battered at the hustings over and over again.