Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday night said she is divesting her nephew Akash Anand of his responsibilities as the party's national co-ordinator and her "successor".
Announcing it on X, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said she has taken the decision in the interest of the party and the movement and till the time Anand gains "full maturity".
She said her brother and Akash's father Anand Kumar will continue to fulfil his responsibilities as before.
The surprise decision comes on the day voting was held for the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls in the country.
After the second phase of polling, Akash Anand was booked for poll code violation in Sitapur on April 29.
The BSP leader had remarked, "This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors. The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan."