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Maharashtra’s former chief minister A R Antulay, a die-hard loyalist of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, on Tuesday staged a rebellion against the Congress by extending his support to Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) nominee Ramesh Kadam in the Raigad constituency.
Incidentally, Kadam has also received support from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which has already announced to teach a lesson to Shiv Sena in the general elections.
The Congress stalwart’s decision to challenge the party leadership is following the Congress’ move to give away the Raigad constituency to its ally the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Antulay was also quite disturbed that the NCP has nominated his disciple-turned-NCP leader Sunil Tatkare from the Raigad seat, from where the former had lost in the 2009 polls to Shiv Sena. Antulay was then Union minority affairs minister.
Antulay’s rebellion comes close on the heels of state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre’s announcement that a report has been forwarded to the central disciplinary committee after the former blessed the PWP candidate.
Undeterred by the Congress’ hint at a disciplinary action against him, the 85-year-old veteran said he was not even consulted before handing over the Raigad seat to the NCP. “I have been contesting the Raigad seat since 1957, but the party did not think it fit to even take my view before exchange it to NCP. Ironically, the entire Raigad district now is surrendered to the NCP. The state of elders and veteran leaders in the Congress party is quite worse than that of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). The NCP should be politically finished in Raigad district,” Antulay told select media persons at his south Mumbai residence. He clarified that he had not asked a ticket for his family members but insisted that Congress should filed its own candidate in Raigad.
Without mincing words, Antulay said the Congress party has converted Raigad into a graveyard. “I brought Tatkare into politics. However, the image of Raigad district has taken a serious beating due to his series of actions as minister. I will never bless Tatkare and he should be defeated,” he noted.
Antulay, a barrister from Lincoln's Inn in London, was in wilderness for long after he was forced to resign as Maharashtra chief minister in the 1980s following his conviction by the Bombay High Court on the charges that he had extorted money for a trust fund he had been managing.
In the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks, Antulay had kicked up a storm by alluding to the role of Hindu fundamentalists in the death of Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare.
