A.K.Antony’s son Anil likely to contest for Lok Sabha

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 24 (IANS) Anil Antony, the elder son of former Defence Minister A.K.Antony, is expected to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Even though the elections are still far, the principal players – the ruling CPI-M led Left and the Congress-led opposition have started the process of selecting probable candidates.

While the Left, especially the CPI-M, has decided to form grassroots committees ahead of the elections, the Congress is adopting a different strategy by floating the names of probables first.

The 81-year-old Antony – the longest serving Defence Minister in the country — had a few a few months back, bid goodbye to Delhi politics. Despite shifting back to his residence here, he is rarely seen at Congress functions.

When Antony called it quits, doubts were raised whether he will float his son Anil, who during the April 2021 Assembly elections was manning the IT cell at the state Congress party headquarters.

Sources in the know of things reveal that Anil will be fielded from the home turf of Antony – Alappuzha.

Of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won all but the Alappuzha seat.

And to fast track Anil’s claim for the Alappuzha seat, he is all set to be inducted into the state party organization structure, when it will be reconstituted shortly.

Incidentally, the legendary Congress leader K. Karunakaran’s son, presently the Vadakara Lok Sabha member K. Muraleedharan, first got a seat to contest in 1989 and the former often used to say his son’s name was cleared when he was away in the washroom.

Another Congress veteran, two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s son – Chandy Oommen is also an aspirant for the 2024 Lok Sabha seat and is eyeing the Pathanamthitta seat.

If these veterans’ sons get the seats, one thing is certain that there will be a lot of washing dirty linen in public, a trait that many of the party leaders have.

–IANS

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