THE NO 2 SLOT
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editricon THE NO 2 SLOT

Media speculation is that Sharad Pawar is angry in being denied the no.2 slot which he believes to be his following the resignation of Pranabda. It is AK Antony who has been elevated to this status although just in the recent part, P Chidambaram was defacto no 2 together with Pranab when MMS went on a foreign tour.

It was late Karunakaran who called CWC as Catholic Working committe when it accomodated Antony, late Rajasekar Reddy both catholics besides others while the old horse was left out.

If anyone asks me who is the most honest politican in Independent India, I would unhesitatingly say it is AK Antony. He is the poorest of all our Ministers poorer than even Mamta Banerjee judging form the affidavits filed before Election commission. He is a soft spoken man with an impeccable personal integrity that few would match today. But his record as an administrator is poor. As CM of Kerala he could not function when Karunakaran's camp led by his son and daughter put all spokes in to the wheel of administratiion whereas his protege Oommen Chandy managed to sideline them. As Defence Minister he sat on files taking no decisions at all- fearing controversies. His fight with the former CAS Gen V.K. Singh in the age row, the leak of official letter by MoD officials portray him in poor light as an admininstrator found wanting in capability and foresight. In  any other country, after such a track record, the minister would have been booted out but here he is elevated to No.2 status for his perceived proximity to Sonia Gandhi as a loyalist. Remember he had left the party following the 1977 debacle along with SS Sinha or Assam, and Unnikrishnan and his likes to run a parallel congress party. He even facilitated Christian voters commited to UDF and congress to vote for LDF when he banned stocking alcohol in homes. Antony's record is lacklustre and his elevation is poor reflection on the state of affairs within congress party.

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