In a major setback to the Congress on Thursday, Anil Antony, son of former defence minister and the incumbent head of AICC disciplinary committee AK Antony, joined the BJP.
Anil Antony justified his switch saying the Congress worked for a single family while the BJP worked for the country. “This is not about personalities. This is about differences in ideas and approaches. I am sure my father will respect my decision,” Anil Antony said.
He joined in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal, MoS State External Affairs V Muraleedharan and BJP Kerala chief K Surendran. Anil Antony had quit the Congress recently over the opposition party’s stand on a BBC documentary on Gujarat riots.
He has since been making statements critical of the Congress of which his father remains an integral part as the steering committee member. AK Antony is known to speak Sonia Gandhi’s mind and is considered the closest to her from among the oldguard.
He has famously authored the Antony committee report on the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle of the Congress and attributed the loss primarily to Congress Party’s Muslim appeasement.
AK Antony has of late been saying publicly in Kerala that the Congress can’t ignore the majority sentiment in its political approach. Anil Antony is another in a series of ongoing high profile switch overs from Congress to BJP the most recent being of former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal.
