Former Congress Leader AK Antony’s Stance On His Son’s BJP Loksabha Seat 

On April 9, senior Congress politician and former Union Defence Minister AK Antony desired that his son, BJP leader Anil K Antony, would lose the election. Anil, who joined the BJP last year, will run in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Kerala’s Pathanamthitta constituency.

AK Antony’s Ideological Statements

AK Antony, the 83-year-old former Kerala Chief Minister, has claimed that the approaching election in the south Kerala seat is a “do-or-die battle” to defend India’s constitution and the concept of family.

He highlighted the gap between family and politics, a stance he has held from his days at KSU (The Kerala Students Union), Kerala’s Congress student organization.

Antony stated that if the BJP wins power, the Indian constitution will be destroyed, bringing democracy to an end.

The Congress has fielded Anto Antony against the BJP’s Anil Antony for the Pathanamthitta seat.

Anil Antony’s reaction on this

Anil Antony sharply reacted to his father’s remarks, claiming that the Congress has outdated leaders and that he only sympathizes with his father, a former defense minister, for supporting sitting MP and Congress member Anto Antony, who recently sparked controversy by making statements about the Pulwama terror attack.

Speaking to the media, Anil claimed that he would win in Pathanamthitta.

Some of AK Antony’s political opponents claimed that Anil Antony joined the BJP with the silent blessings of his family, particularly after a video of his mother, Elizabeth Antony, speaking at a church meeting and saying she knew her son would join the BJP surfaced.

Congress (I), Congress (Urs), and Congress (A)

The Kerala Congress has a lengthy history of factionalism. In 1978, one of the groups known as Congress (I) developed, with ‘I’ standing for Indira Gandhi. It had members who were close to the former Prime Minister. The organization, led by former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, arose at a time when the Prime Minister was facing increased criticism as a result of the Emergency. Congress (Urs) was created in 1979 as a breakaway faction from Congress (I). D Devaraj Urs, Karnataka’s then-chief minister, created this faction. Urs was against Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi, being a member of the party.

AK Antony joined the LDF

AK Antony was a major leader in the Congress (Urs) party before leaving in 1980 to create the Congress (A).

AK Antony’s side eventually joined the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by EK Nayanar. However, once the Nayanar governance fell in 1982, the Antony-led Congress (A) faction returned to the old Congress.

Resigns as CM 

Earlier, in October 1978, Kerala’s Chief Minister, AK Antony, resigned in protest at the Congress Parliamentary Board’s decision to indirectly support Indira Gandhi in the Chikmagalur by-election. Antony said that the board ‘ignored’ the emotions of Congressmen in Kerala by making that judgment.