NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Months after quitting Congress, Anil K Antony, son of former Defence Minister and veteran Congress leader AK Antony, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.
The younger Antony was inducted into the party in the presence of Union ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan. "Today, several Congress workers and leaders believe it is their 'dharma' to work for a family. My 'dharma' is to work for the country," he said after making his switch.
The state Congress leadership was caught unawares by the decision.
A source close to AK Antony told The New Indian Express that for the former Union Defence Minister Anil joining the BJP camp was more or less along expected lines.
"The father-son duo has been a bit detached ever since Antony returned to Thiruvananthapuram last year after his Rajya Sabha tenure had come to an end. Anil's main grievance was that his father had not helped him to develop his political career. Antony is definitely disappointed. But his view is that since Anil is a mature person, he has every right to choose what he desires," said a source close to the senior leader.
The younger Antony, 36, had kept on denying rumours of him joining the saffron camp. However, four days ago he met BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
He resigned from Congress in January after a row over his tweet criticizing the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While resigning from the party, Antony cited abuses and intolerant calls to retract a tweet in which he slammed the BBC for undermining the sovereignty of the country.
Sharing his resignation from all party posts on social media, Antony had cited the reason as a "wall of hate/abuses by ones supporting a trek to promote love! Hypocrisy thy name is! Life goes on", he said in a tweet.
Earlier, speaking to The New Indian Express, the younger Antony had said that though he has high regard for Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader is surrounded by people who are the epitome of hatred.
Antony said that he has been facing adversity from the Kerala unit ever since he joined the party in 2017.
"Since 2017, I have been facing online attacks and cyberbullying from my party colleagues. Though I complained to the state leadership many times, nothing came out of it. Whatever happened in the last 24 hours is shameful, discouraging, and it is disappointing to see a party that claims to stand for free speech and is trying to spread the message of love showing this kind of hypocrisy," he said.
"I feel I'm at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Antony, who supported Shashi Tharoor in the Presidential election of the party.
While Antony, in his tweet said that 'the leadership is only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas', he declined to explain further.
"I do feel that only a certain kind of people who meet certain qualities fit in the party. Sadly, I'm not one of them," he said, adding that he hasn't consulted his father before making his decision to quit the party.
The top leadership should be concerned about the exodus from the party over the few years, he had said. "So many senior leaders, former ministers, former chief ministers, and our best young talents are leaving the party. They should be concerned about that," he said.
Referring to Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate's comment that Anil Antony is a nonentity, he said, "She's not even aware of what's happening in the organization."
"We shouldn't allow any foreign entity to take the upper hand over our Supreme Court or other institutions. This will dilute our sovereignty and set a precedent," he said.
Anil Antony's decision comes at a time when the BJP national leadership has been desperately trying to canvass support from the UDF and LDF camps, and especially from Christian leaders