'Ignored his duties to the party and the yatra': Congress hits back at Anil Antony

The Congress on Wednesday reacted sharply to the resignation of Anil Antony from the party over comments to his views on the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh compared Anil to former Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy’s son, Chandy Oomen, who is walking with the Bharat Jodo Yatra currently. Jairam Ramesh though did not take any names while making the comparison.

Also read: Who is Anil Antony, who rebelled against Congress over BBC Modi series?

Two tales

“A Tale of Two Sons of Two CMs from the same state. One is a Bharat Yatri and walking tirelessly, mostly barefoot to unite our nation in the #BharatJodoYatra. The other is reveling in his day in the sun today having ignored his duties to the Party and the Yatra,” Jairam Ramesh tweeted, neither taking the name of Oomen Chandy or Anil’s father AK Antony.

The tweet comes after Anil announced his resignation in a tweet blaming the “coterie around the leadership” for threatening him to take down his previous tweet on BBC documentary India: The Modi Question.

Anil Antony’s resignation

In his tweet, Anil Antony made a reference to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra as a ‘trek to promote love’ and said those who support the ‘trek’ abused him for his tweet.

Also read: Anil Antony’s view on BBC series as sovereignty breach ‘immature’: Tharoor

“I am sure that I have my own unique strengths which could have enabled me to contribute very effectively to the party in several ways. However, by now I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues, and the coterie around the leadership are only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas, who would unquestionably be at your beck and call. This has become the lone criterion of merit. Sadly, we don’t have much common ground,” Anil Antony wrote in his resignation letter.