Senior Congress leader A K Antony ends Delhi life, returns to Kerala

By Sreejith Kumar | NT

Thiruvananthapuram: I ndian National Congress leader, Arackaparambil Kurien Antony, popularly known as A K Antony, returned to Kerala on Thursday after spending more than three decades in New Delhi.

Known as ‘Mr. Clean’ in Indian politics, 81-year-old Antony decided to end his parliamentary political career and slow down his party activities. Sonia Gandhi’s trusted lieutenant will, however, continue as a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and work from Indira Bhavan, the headquarters of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.

His return to the south Indian state comes at a time when Congress-led United Development Front (UDF) is struggling to capitalise on the weaknesses of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).

The party’s central leadership hopes Antony’s presence and experience will show a new path to the state Congress.

Antony started his political career participating in the famous ‘Orana Samaram’ (One Anna Strike) demanding that students be allowed to travel by boat by paying one Anna. The strike was organised by the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU), the students’ wing of the Congress. It helped Antony rise to the leadership and he became the youngest president of the organisation in 1966. He led the youngsters who questioned the senior leaders in the party for clinging on to power for years. Later he rallied Congress workers who opposed the then strongman of the party, K. Karunakaran. In 1972, at the age of 32, Antony was elected as the youngest president of the KPCC. During the period of Emergency, he stood with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi but broke away in 1979 after a fraction of leaders decided to form Congress (U) under the leadership of Devarj Urs over Mrs. Gandhi’s decision to contest in Chikkamagaluru by-election in Karnataka. Then he formed his own political party, Congress (A), which joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government during 1980- 82. After the fall of the Left government, Antony Congress merged with the Indian National Congress in 1982.

At 36, Antony even became the youngest chief minister of Kerala after K Karunakaran was forced to resign. During 1993-1994, he was the Minister for Civil Supplies and Public Administration under P.V. Narasimha Rao. He resigned on moral grounds in the wake of a sugar import scandal. He again became Kerala’s chief minister when then CM K. Karunakaran resigned in connection with the ISRO spy case in 1995.