THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader AK Antony will bid adieu to New Delhi and return to Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The 81-year-old leader has also informed the party central leadership about his decision to resign from his membership in the Congress Working Committee. Antony, who will live at his home ‘Anjanam’ on Easwara Vilasom road here, will work for the party from Indira Bhavan, the state Congress HQ.
“I have been staying in New Delhi for the last 18 years. Prior to that, I was like a visitor to the national capital to attend party meetings. I do not wish to make an impulsive decision on what role I should take up. Let me settle down first. Then, I will hold talks with the party leaders and take an appropriate decision,” Antony told TNIE. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had tried to persuade Antony to have one more term in the Rajya Sabha when his tenure ended earlier this month.
But he politely declined as he had been representing the Congress in the upper house since 2005. She was keen to see Antony continue in New Delhi as in the history of the Congress, he holds the record for the longest tenure in CWC by completing 38 years from 1984. However, he stuck to his decision, the way he had done when he quit the chief minister’s post in 2004.
Antony’s shifting of base to the state capital is also expected to rejuvenate the party headquarters. Ever since K Sudhakaran took over as the state unit president from Mullappally Ramachandran, Indira Bhavan has been looking desolate. With Sudhakaran spending most of his time between Kannur and New Delhi, he comes to the state headquarters only for party programmes. With the arrival of Antony, Indira Bhavan once again is going to witness a steady flow of party leaders.