Lucknow: In an effort to garner youth votes, the BSP campaign in Uttar Pradesh will now be led by Akash Anand, the nephew of party supremo Mayawati.
Akash Anand will mobilise the youth and counter the growing influence of Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar, especially in western Uttar Pradesh.
He will also boost the social media campaign of the party and help make the voters aware about the policies of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Akash, who is the BSP’s national coordinator, will be assisted by Kapil Mishra, son of BSP MP Satish Chandra Mishra.
In a recent tweet, Satish Chandra Mishra said the role of youths is increasing in the BSP as the party is geared up for the Assembly election. He said the young leaders of the party were ready to fight for rights of the people.
According to a party functionary, it will be Akash who will draw up the party’s strategy, design the social media campaign and work out other modalities.
Akash was also active in Punjab where the BSP is contesting assembly election in pre poll alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal and Mayawati has entrusted him with the responsibility of winning the support of the youths in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand– all due for elections early next year.
Akash was made national coordinator of the BSP in 2019 when Mayawati revamped the party soon after severing ties with the Samajwadi Party. He has been managing the party affairs in various states and had even campaigned for the BSP-SP alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
After the defeat in the elections, he had been maintaining a low profile.
Of late however, the BSP has been feeling the heat since the Bhim Army is making inroads into the Dalit vote base. Chandra Shekhar is drawing youth in large numbers, particularly, in western Uttar Pradesh.
The BSP, which faces a dearth of Dalit leaders now, has finally decided to field Akash as a frontline leader and control the damage being done by the Bhim Army.
Kapil Mishra, meanwhile, has already been addressing ‘Prabuddh Sammelans’ to woo the upper caste youth.
(IANS)