Gandhis are the powerhouse of Congress: AK Antony

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, April 27

Former defence minister and veteran leader AK Antony on Wednesday said the Congress will come back and no change of guard at the Centre was possible in 2024 without the Congress.

He was speaking to reporters at his Jantar Mantar residence which he has to vacate before May 1. Antony’s Rajya Sabha term ended this month and he is not seeking re-election.

All set to return to Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow and bid farewell to Delhi, Antony would be hanging his boots after 52 years in active politics.

He has been a five term Rajya Sabha MP starting 1985.

“Do not underestimate the Congress. The Congress was wiped out in 1977 also but came back. We are going to draft a roadmap for revival at the upcoming Chintan Shivir in Udaipur. Have patience,” Antony said when asked how the Congress would revive itself having lost 11 elections since July 2020.

Antony also defended the primacy of the Nehru Gandhi family in the Congress scheme of things, saying, “Without the Nehru-Gandhi family, the Congress would not be acceptable to 99 per cent party workers. People do not know their qualities. They are the powerhouse of the Congress. They stand for so many values.”

Antony in a message to other opposition parties said, “Those who are sincere about a change of guard at the Centre in 2024 must realise that such a change is not possible without the Congress.”

He expressed anguish at “the atmosphere of hate” saying, “India’s strength is unity in diversity. Imposing uniformity in everything is dangerous.”

Antony heads the Congress disciplinary panel and is part of the party’s core committee and the working committee.

He started as an MLA in Kerala in 1970 and was CM thrice in 1977, 1995 and 2001.

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