LUCKNOW: He was there beside Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief

when she welcomed and accepted greetings from

president Akhilesh Yadav at her residence here on her birthday on Tuesday. He was also by her side when RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav came calling on Sunday.

While there is a sudden spurt in public appearances of Mayawati, the person who is arresting people’s attention is 24-year-old Akash Anand, standing besides her in most photographs. Akash is her nephew, the son of her brother Anand Singh, who served as BSP vice-president till 2017. The photos also set speculations rife about Akash being assigned an important political role in the party. But, senior leaders ruled out any such development, citing Mayawati’s announcement in May last year that no family member of the national president would be given a post in the party. In the past, she even had

removed from the post of national vice-president to refute charges of promoting dynasty politics in BSP.

Akash’s 1st appearance was at Saharanpur rally

Sources in the BSP said Akash had accompanied Mayawati to Lucknow on January 10 and stayed with her to celebrate her birthday on January 15. He featured prominently in all official photo ops — not just with Akhilesh on Tuesday but also when the RJD’s

met Mayawati on Sunday night. He was also present at the historic SPBSP press conference in Lucknow on Saturday.

“Akash handles his father’s business and it would be incorrect to read anything political into his visit. His last visit to Lucknow was probably in April last year,” said a senior party member.

However, Akash and his father have made several public appearances with Mayawati in the past. Sources indicated that the nephew, who was initially being groomed by Mayawati for a bigger role in the party before she announced that no family member would be given a party position, may be playing a part in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“His first official public appearance with Mayawati was in 2016 when he accompanied her to Saharanpur. He was also on stage with her during a rally in Meerut in February 2017. In October 2017, when Anand was still the party vice-president, their names were mentioned in a press release for the first time,” said party sources, adding that subsequently, after some resentment in the party over her family’s growing importance, Mayawati had announced that while Akash would remain a member of the party, he would not be given any post.

The MBA from

London

has a Facebook page ‘Akash Anand-BSP’ that was created in September 2017. The closed group has seen activity pick up over the past few weeks with 1,427 members out of a total 8,467 added in the past 30 days.