Lucknow, Sept. 10 -- Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Thursday announced that her nephew Akash Anand has been "fully relieved" from the party, days after he was removed as its national coordinator. She said both Anand and his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth appeared to be more focused on personal and family interests than on the Bahujan movement.

Her announcement comes shortly after former Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Siddharth declared his total retirement from politics and social life.

The shake-up comes on the heels of Mayawati's public ultimatum linking Anand's potential rehabilitation within the party structure to the complete political sanyas (renunciation) of Siddharth, who is also Anand's father-in-law. Despite Siddharth's st...