Leaving Delhi, not politics: Looking back at A K Antony's 52-year career

A K Antony was chief minister of Kerala thrice. At 33, he was the youngest Pradesh Congress president

The apocryphal story about Congressman A K Antony that he always keeps his resignation letter ready in his purse arose probably when he put in his papers as Union food minister in 1994. P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister then. Antony’s ministry was involved in a sugar import scandal and the resignation came though there was no accusation against him.

He is Mr Clean both to his adversaries and admirers. Looking back at his 52-year political career, even his critics who doubt his capability will not deny his reputation of being honest. Last week the veteran Congress leader bid adieu to parliamentary politics and New Delhi and shifted his base to Thiruvananthapuram.

For Antony, politics has been an eventful story of grit, glory, downfall, and the resurgence that followed it. Even a Wikileaks cable portrayed the fighter in Antony raising his voice against Sanjay Gandhi when the latter was extremely powerful. At the 1976 All India Congress Committee session in Guwahati during the Emergency, Antony spoke against Gandhi and his rise to power, despite knowing that it might end his political career.

“Kerala Congress president A K Antony was one of the only leaders to flatly criticise the new Youth Congress and Sanjay,” the cable said. This was one incident in which Antony stood out for speaking his mind.

“I have left Delhi. I would not like to talk about anything for at least three months,” Antony told Business Standard. He, however, said he would work for the party’s Kerala wing and termed the Delhi exit “an end to only his parliamentary career”.

“I cannot forget the Congress because I was nothing and I became part of the party. I will do politics, and I will do Congress politics,” he told the media.

As defence minister, an office he held for seven years, he was criticised for slow decision making, which left the armed forces stuck with old arms and equipment. He also fended off the plan to appoint a chief of defence staff.

“He could not capitalise on the good measures taken by him. He was instrumental in increasing the wages of the defence staff, which was vital. Moreover, he was number two in the government for a long time, after Manmohan Singh,” said Sunnykutty Abraham, a senior political analyst.

Antony was chief minister of Kerala thrice — the first time was when he was 37, the youngest person to hold the office. At 33, he was the youngest Pradesh Congress president. Apart from this, he was a five-time MLA, a three-time central minister, and a five-term Rajya Sabha member.

In August 2004, when he resigned as chief minister, not many imagined he would come back once again and within months he was defence minister of the country.

“He is a man of comebacks. In the 1990s also, immediately after his resignation from the Union ministry, he came back as chief minister after K Karunakaran. Though he left the party for a brief period and ruled alongside the Left, he came back without any terms or conditions,” Abraham added.

He was instrumental in the arrack ban in the state, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs. On the industry front, as chief minister, he organised the state’s first global investors’ meet.

As Antony leaves parliamentary politics at the age of 81, there are people who consider the current move a step to a big comeback.