TRIVANDRUM, 30 August 2004 — Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony resigned yesterday, taking full responsibility for the Congress party rout in the state in the April-May parliamentary election.
He submitted his resignation to Governor R.L. Bhatia a little over an hour after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi left the city for New Delhi after a brief visit to the state. The governor accepted the resignation and asked him to continue till alternative arrangements were made. “Whenever I take such decisions, I always ask my conscience only. And that is how I came to this decision,” Antony told reporters after his meeting with Bhatia.
Congress sources said Oommen Chandy, convener of the ruling United Democratic Front coalition was likely to succeed Antony. State Assembly Speaker Vakkom B. Purushothaman was another aspirant.
Antony, who led the Congress to a landslide victory in the May 2001 assembly election winning 100 of the 140-seats in the state legislature, said earlier yesterday he was taking full responsibility for the party’s debacle in the parliamentary elections.
“I had offered to quit taking moral responsibility for (Congress’s) Lok Sabha (lower house) debacle but the decision is pending before the (party) high command and today I have decided to resign,” he told reporters at the airport here after seeing off Sonia Gandhi at 6.45 p.m. He drove down to the Raj Bhavan, the governor’s mansion, and handed over his resignation at 7.50 p.m.
Antony had earlier accompanied Sonia to Kollam for the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of social reformer and Ezhava leader Sree Narayana Guru.
A final decision on Antony’s successor will be taken by the Congress Parliamentary Party, which is expected to meet in New Delhi today.
Antony, who had served as chief minister twice earlier in 1977 and 1995, said he had done well for the state during his three years and few months in office.
“I tried to do a lot of things, of which some were good things,” Antony said, adding that Kerala was in a much better position than what it was when he took over but predicted a tough task for his successor.
“The next government in Kerala has a lot of things to do,” he said.
Before the crucial meeting with the chief minister at the airport on her way from Quilon to New Delhi, Sonia met 15 top leaders including Chandy, state unit president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, past presidents and presidents of the feeder organizations.
Senior leader and former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, Antony’s bitter enemy, kept away from the meeting saying he was not “interested in discussing party matters with her at the airport.” Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Anil Shastri, however, called on him in the morning at his residence and held a 45-minute meeting. Finance Minister K. Sankaranarayanan said the chief minister’s was a well thought-out decision and there were no chances of him changing his mind.
“He did that on high moral ground. All leaders in India should follow his courage. I congratulate him,” senior leader Vayalar Ravi said. “This will improve party’s chances in upcoming elections. His actions as chief minister often weakened the party instead of strengthening it,” K. Muraleedharan, former state unit chief and son of Karunakaran said.
