It had been speculated for a while, ever since Anil Antony, veteran Congress leader A.K. Antony's son, resigned from the posts he held in the Congress, that he could be headed to the BJP. So, while it did not come as a surprise when he joined the saffron party today, it did give rise to discussions on how it was an embarrassment for the party, especially the Gandhi family, on account of his father's long association with the party and his proximity to the Gandhis.
The biggest significance of the 37-year-old former Congressman joining the BJP is that his father is a veteran leader of the Congress, who always wore his loyalty to the party on his sleeve and was amongst the leaders that the Gandhi family trusted the most. His counsel was always sought by the first family of the Congress and he was considered to be in the inner circle of the Gandhis.
Antony senior was amongst the most influential figures in the Congress and a power centre in his home state Kerala for a long time before he took retirement from politics some months ago.
It is in this light that Antony junior joining the BJP makes for bad optics and is being seen as an embarrassment for the Congress.
Congress leaders shrug off the development as a non-event, saying that Anil was a lightweight and did not have much to show in terms of contribution to the party. It is felt that his joining the BJP will have the same impact if not less than that of former media department secretary Tom Vadakkan, who also comes from Kerala, joining the BJP.
Anil had been convenor of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee's Digital Media wing and national coordinator of AICC Social Media and Digital Communications Cell. He had attracted attention for making statements that did not conform with the official line in the party.
He had supported Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor's candidature for the post of party president. Tharoor had contested against Mallikarjun Kharge, who was widely seen as the official candidate for the presidential elections in the party.
Anil had resigned from all posts he held in the Congress in January, posting his resignation letter on Twitter. He had written that he had taken the step over the intolerant calls and abuses that he was being subjected to by his party supporters with regard to his views on the controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
He had tweeted that those who support and place the views of the BBC and of former UK foreign secretary Jack Straw—who he described as the “brain behind the Iraq war”—over Indian institutions are setting a dangerous precedent. The tweet had prompted a strong reaction online from Congress workers.
“Intolerant calls to retract a tweet, by those fighting for free speech. I refused. Facebook wall of hate/abuses by ones supporting a trek to promote love! Hypocrisy thy name is! Life goes on...,” he had written on Twitter.
Antony senior has thus far refused to answer questions regarding Anil's troubled relationship with the Congress.
The BJP would be clearly looking to project the development as a reflection on the Congress leadership and the party's functioning. It would be projected as a commentary on the manner in which the Gandhi family has been running the affairs of the party.
Also, the BJP, which has been making fervent efforts in Kerala to build a constituency and is trying to woo the Christian community, could be looking to use Anil's entry into the party in that direction. It had earlier brought into its fold Vadakkan, also a leader belonging to the Christian community. It had also tried to send a message to the Christians in the state by inducting former bureaucrat K.J. Alphons into the Narendra Modi government. Alphons was a Union minister from 2017 to 2019.