Veteran Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony on Tuesday called for the defeat of his son Anil Antony, who is contesting as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Kerala’s Pathanamthitta constituency in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
It was “wrong” for children of Congress leaders to join the BJP, Antony said, adding “Congress is my religion” .
Addressing a press conference, the veteran Congress leader said, “BJP should lose there and Congress should win in Pathanamthitta.”
He said Anto Antony, the incumbent MP and Congress candidate from Pathanamthitta seat, will win against son, Anil.
Anil Antony had joined the BJP on April 6, 2023, months after quitting the Congress. He had resigned from the Congress after “intolerant calls to retract a tweet” opposing the two-part BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Anil held key positions in the Congress. He was the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) digital media convener and the national coordinator of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
On joining the BJP, Anil had slammed a section of the Congress leadership for “serving the interests of a single family” instead of working for the country, and said that “it was not the Congress I knew when I was growing up”.
Soon after joining the saffron party, Anil was made BJP’s national secretary.
Anil’s move had created a stir in the family as well as the state unit of the Congress, as his father and brother did not support his decision to leave the Congress.
Anil’s younger brother Ajith asserted that the BJP would throw him out like “curry leaves” after using him in the short term, while his father said he was ‘deeply pained’ by the move.
Antony said that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi are continuously fighting against Modi, BJP, and the RSS. “I don’t think the people of Kerala will take CM’s (Pinarayi Vijayan) allegations seriously…INDIA bloc is moving forward every day and BJP is going down. I think it’s a chance for us to form the government,” he added.
Anil Antony is taking on three-time lawmaker Anto Antony and former finance minister Thomas Isaac of the CPM in a multi-cornered contest in the prestigious LS seat.
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Published: 09 Apr 2024, 03:49 PM IST