New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) A day after expelled Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and former Rajya Sabha member Ashok Siddharth announced his retirement from politics, the Samajwadi Party accused BSP chief Mayawati of “only thinking about herself” and not about society.

Siddharth announced his decision a day after Mayawati said that his retirement was necessary if her nephew and Siddharth’s son-in-law, Akash Anand, was to be given another opportunity to rise within the BSP.

However, the BSP chief later expelled Akash Anand from the party, saying he has been freed from the party and that his personal attachment appeared to outweigh his concern for his own political career.

Speaking to IANS, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma expressed his displeasure, saying that the dream envisioned by Babasaheb Ambedkar, under which the Bahujan Samaj Party formed the government in Uttar Pradesh four times, including a full-majority government once, remains unfulfilled since the BSP chief says that “the political legacy will survive only if so-and-so resigns”.

“This is not what the Bahujan Samaj Party used to be. I feel that the Dalit community and the Bahujan Samaj have now understood that Behen Kumari Mayawati does politics only for herself and no longer speaks for the society,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Minister and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, who had earlier offered Akash Anand to join his party, again urged him to come forward and keep fighting for the “neglected sections” and fulfill the dream of Kanshi Ram and B.R. Ambedkar.

“He should make a decision because a person committed to a mission never retires. He should fight for the rights and entitlements of the neglected sections of society, people who have been oppressed for 5,000 years, and for those 80 crore people who depend on food assistance. They should be brought into the mainstream of development. He should stand for the rights of the weaker sections of society,” he told IANS.

Further, on Ashok Siddharth’s retirement decision, Nishad reiterated: “A person committed to a mission never retires.”

However, UP Minister Rakesh Sachan refused to comment on the matter, saying that it is for the BSP to decide, whom to expel and whom to induct into the party.

“She is the national president. This is her decision,” he told IANS.

–IANS

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