Arackaparambil Kurian Antony is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress and the current Defence Minister of India. A. K. Antony was born at Cherthala, in Alappuzha district of Kerala. He completed his primary education in Holy Family Boys High school (Lower primary) and Government Boys High school guguifi (Upper primary), Cherthala (both are mixed higher secondary schools now and the latter has changed its name to Sree Narayana Memorial Government Higher Secondary school) and completed his B. A. from Maharajas College, Ernakulam and B. L. from Government Law College, Ernakulam. Political career Chief Minister of Kerala He is a former Chief Minister of Kerala.

The first term was from April 27, 1977 to October 27, 1978 after K. Karunakaran resigned following accusations in the Rajan case; the second one was from March 22, 1995 to May 9, 1996 after K. Karunakaran resigned in connection with the ISRO case; and the third term from May 17, 2001 to August 29, 2004. When he became Chief Minister in 1977, he was the youngest Chief Minister of the State. He was the Leader of Opposition in Kerala Legislative Assembly during 1996 to 2001.

He failed to retain power on the first two occasions as Chief Minister. In 2004, immediately after the Congress in Kerala suffered a total rout in the Lok Sabha elections amid factional politics and in-fighting within the Congress Party, Antony resigned as the Chief Minister of Kerala. He was succeeded by Oommen Chandy. Congress politics and party faction A. K. Antony entered into politics as a student leader in Cherthala Taluk (Alleppey District) as an activist of Kerala Students Union (KSU). He has been an active leader of many strikes like Oru Ana Samaram (Single Penny Strike). He served as the president of KSU, Youth Congress and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee [(KPCC)] before becoming an All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in 1984.

When he became KPCC president in 1972 he was the youngest person to hold that post. He was elected again as KPCC president in 1987, and was defeated by Vayalar Ravi in the KPCC presidential elections in 1991. He was elected several times to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), of which he’s currently a member. He is in charge of Karnataka and Maharashtra state affairs of the Congress Party. Antony was also made Core Committee member and inducted into all main party boards and committees in 2005. He has been appointed as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the All India Congress Committee.

Congress (A) was a political party founded by Antony when he split from the Indian National Congress (Urs) a splinter group of the Indian National Congress (and opposed Indira Gandhi in inner party politics during the time when she was prosecuted by the Morarji Desai government, splitting off from the parent party with Devraj Urs.) The party was primarily active in Kerala and joined the LDF ministry headed by E. K. Nayanar during 1980-1982. After the fall of the Nayanar ministry, this party merged with the Congress in 1982.

The members of the party have continued as a faction in the local congress afterwards. Rajya sabha and Union cabinet (Civil supplies/Defence) He was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha between 1985 and 1995 and was the Minister for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution for a year in 1994 during the tenure of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. He resigned over allegations of corruption attributed to the ministry. He was not mentioned in the allegations. In 2005, A. K. Antony entered the Rajya Sabha and was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as Defence Minister following Natwar Singh’s expulsion from the Congress and Pranab Mukherjee’s transfer to the Ministry of External Affairs. After the Congress again won the elections in 2009 and formed the government once again under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Antony retained the portfolio of Defence for the second term.

Personal life and beliefs He is married to Elizabeth Antony, a Syrian Orthodox Christian, and they have two sons named Anil Kurien Antony and Ajith Paul Antony. A. K. Antony was born in a Syrian Catholic family. He is an atheist and has always assumed office by affirmation rather than by a religious oath. However, he is a devotee of Mata Amritanandamayi and claims to have seen stars when she hugged him