With
A. K. Antony making it to the Defence Ministry, Kerala will
have its second Defence Minister after nearly 50 years. The
only other Keralite to hold this office was V. K. Krishna
Menon who was in Nehru's Cabinet.
For
Mr. Antony, this will be his second stint in the Union Cabinet
- having earlier been Minister of Civil Supplies, Consumer
Affairs and Public Distribution in the P.V. Narasimha Rao
Government from 1993 to 1995. This stint was cut short when
he stepped down owing moral responsibility for a sugar scam.
Truncated
tenures in office are something that has dogged Mr. Antony's
career. Thrice Chief Minister of Kerala, he never served a
full term. The youngest Chief Minister of the State, at 37,
in 1977, he held office for a year. His second stint in 1995
was just as short and the third run after the Congress-led
United Democratic Front's landslide victory in 2001 was cut
short in 2004 following the drubbing the party received at
the hustings in the 13th Lok Sabha elections.
Mr.
Antony entered politics by organising students of his native
Cherthala taluk in Alappuzha district. He was the youngest
person ever to be made president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress
Committee.
With
time, Mr. Antony came to lead his own group in the faction-ridden
Congress in the State.
Mr.
Antony is known to be guarded in decision-making and to toe
the middle path.
Courtesy : The Hindu
Visit A.K Antony's profile in SocialPulse.com
Courtesy:
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