Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday said her nephew and party national coordinator Akash Anand needs to become more politically mature and decided against giving him any major responsibility in the party.

“I have allowed Akash Anand to work in the party, which is before all of you, but he still needs to become more mature. Till then, it would not be appropriate to give him a major responsibility in the party,” the BSP chief said while addressing a national-level meeting of party office-bearers in Lucknow.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also announced that her party will contest all elections across the country, however big or small, on its own.

Ms. Mayawati termed the Congress “strongly anti-Dalit and anti-Ambedkar” and alleged that Opposition parties are engaged in “misleading and misguiding” Dalits and other sections of the Bahujan society. She accused them of “favouring some Dalit groups and misleading people by making baseless claims and spreading false propaganda”.

She also dubbed demonstrations and road blockades as political and electoral gimmicks. “The BSP is the only Ambedkarite party in the country that is free from such political and electoral gimmicks. It is dedicated to the welfare and well-being of the entire society, especially the poor, labourers, exploited, oppressed, and neglected. The living proof of this is the development done by the BSP-led government in Uttar Pradesh for four terms,” she said.