Newsmaker: The ‘outsider’ son-in-law climbs one more rung in Apna Dal

Sources said that the BJP had been holding off the Apna Dal’s demand to take in Ashish for long, including at the time of the two ministry expansions by the previous Adityanath government. With Anupriya the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, now the couple both hold ministerial posts in BJP governments. This arguably unmatched achievement was on display at the swearing-in Saturday, where Anupriya was present on the stage as Ashish took oath.

Speaking to The Sunday Express, Ashish said he saw his appointment as another chance to work for society. “I joined politics to ensure that all sections of society get their rights. I will continue to work in that direction.”

A graduate in Civil Engineering from a government college in Jhansi, Ashish had joined Military Engineering Services before taking up a job in UP Jal Nigam.

He and Anupriya got married on September 27, 2009. The same year, Anupriya was named the general secretary of the Apna Dal after the death of her father and Kurmi leader Sonelal Patel, who had founded the party in 1995. Her mother Krishna became the party president.

In 2012, Anupriya won her first election as MLA. Eyeing OBC votes, especially around the Varanasi area from where Narendra Modi was contesting his first Lok Sabha election, the BJP tied up with the Apna Dal in 2014. Two years after the BJP swept the polls, Anupriya, who had won from Mirzapur seat, was inducted as a Union Minister of State.

A year later, in 2017, Ashish took voluntary retirement to join active politics. He cites his grandfather’s 40 years as gram pradhan to explain his interest. He soon got elected to the UP Legislative Council with BJP support. Since then, pressure had been coming from the Apna Dal side – which now had two MPs and nine MLAs in its kitty – to accommodate Ashish in the Cabinet. While he didn’t get that berth, as MLC, he was allotted a sprawling bungalow in the VVIP zone of Mall Avenue, the same that once housed former CM N D Tiwari.

In the earlier Adityanath ministry, the Apna Dal had only one berth, of minister of state.

Meanwhile, Ashish’s growing clout and say in the Apna Dal created a rift within the family. Krishna blamed his and Anupriya’s ambitions for her loss in a bypoll. Finally parting ways, Krishna founded the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi). Anupriya’s faction came to be known as Apna Dal (S).

In the recent Assembly elections, while Anupriya campaigned for Apna Dal (S) candidates, Ashish took care of the party organisation and travelled extensively as part of it. He stayed away from campaigning, the same as in 2019.

Sources said that as in-charge of the organisation, Ashish has put a system in place by assigning specific workers for redressal of public grievances related to health, district administration, police etc, and setting up WhatsApp groups to monitor progress. “Whenever he assigns any task to a particular person, the status of that task is updated on that group. If the government officer concerned delays the redressal, that is also updated in the group and then Ashishji himself speaks to that officer,” said a party leader.

With the Apna Dal (S) winning 12 seats this time, three more than in 2017, and the Kamerawadi faction getting a blank, the tussle for the real Apna Dal is more or less over. And Ashish is there very much at the top.