Antony cautions Congress rank-and-file against self-defeating discussions about leadership 

Veteran Congress leader Thennala Balakrishna Pillai being felicitated by senior Congress leader A.K. Antony and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President K. Sudhakaran during a function celebrating the centenary year of Mahatma Gandhi’s induction as president of the Indian National Congress in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

Veteran Congress leader A.K. Antony cautioned the party’s rank-and-file against engaging in self-defeating speculations about leadership after the Assembly polls in 2026. 

Speaking on the 100th centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s election as the president of the Indian National Congress, Mr. Antony said such inopportune discussions would wreck the party’s unity. 

Mr. Antony’s comment was a riposte to the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) insinuation that the Congress leadership was mired in a power struggle for a prospective Chief Ministership post and had no definite policy alternatives to offer the electorate.  

He said Gandhian philosophy was potent enough to defeat Sangh Parivar’s divisive politics. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party, by preaching division and hate, had adopted the divide-and-rule policy of erstwhile colonialists. 

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran said Sangh Parivar politics posed an existential threat to Indian democracy and freedom as envisaged by the founding fathers of the Constitution, chiefly Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.