Thiruvananthapuram: Former Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony has revealed that he had decided to resign soon after the UDF suffered a massive defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Antony also said nobody had pressurised him to do so.
"The resignation got delayed by 1.5 months as I was waiting for the High Command's nod," Antony explained.
He further said that he had recommended the name of Oommen Chandy as his successor to the party High Command.
However, neither Chandy, a close confidante, nor his family was aware of these developments.
Antony made the revelation after virtually inaugurating the jubilee celebrations held at the KPCC headquarters to mark 50 years of Oommen Chandy as a legislator.
"As soon as the results were out, I had faxed my resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. She then asked me who would be my successor. And I said Oommen Chandy. I was also given the go-ahead to resign after 1.5 months. I continued with my duties until then without announcing my resignation. I also had to finish off certain tasks such as restoring the benefits of government employees that were stopped in 2002,” Antony explained.
“Sonia Gandhi arrived for the SNDP programme at Kollam on August 28, 2004. After she left, I announced my resignation at the airport. Nobody knew until then. The next morning, I called up Chandy and told him that he would be the next CM. I also informed the senior leaders and MLAs.
“During the parliamentary party meet held later in the day, I proposed Oommen Chandy's name. And he went on to become the Chief Minister. Chandy is someone you could trust to stand with you in any crisis,” Antony added.
The government employees had gone on a 33-day strike after some of their benefits were stopped in 2002. The state was going through an acute financial crisis then.
"I could not even get a flight ticket to Delhi. Due to Finance Minister K Sankaranarayanan's strenuous efforts, the state was able to tide over the crisis. As the situation improved, the benefits of the employees were fully restored. We even paid the DA arrears from the tenure of the Nayanar government. After which I resigned," Antony explained.
