This is an archive article published on April 26, 2017

Opinion April 26, 1977, Forty Years Ago: Antony Is Kerala CM

Antony, who heads the KPCC and is a bachelor, will be the country’s youngest chief minister at 37.

A.K. Antony, ak antony, Kerala CM, KPCC, Congress, Union Cabinet, Binayak Acharya, Indian Foreign Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, indian express, forty years ago, india news

A look at the front page of The Indian Express, published on April 26, 1977, Forty Years Ago.

By: Editorial

April 26, 2017 12:00 AM IST First published on: Apr 26, 2017 at 12:00 AM IST

A look at the front page of The Indian Express, published on
April 26, 1977, Forty Years Ago.

Like a coy bride entering the nuptial chamber in visible trepidation, an unwilling A.K. Antony agreed under all-round pressure to ascend the Kerala chief minister’s gaddi vacated by K. Karunakaran. Antony, who heads the KPCC and is a bachelor, will be the country’s youngest chief minister at 37. He is not a member of the assembly and will need to get elected to the House within six months. As C. Subramaniam, the Congress emissary, presented Antony to waiting newspersons and announced that he would be the next CM, Antony’s eyes were almost wet — in his case it couldn’t be tears of joy, as anyone who knows him would vouch — and outgoing CM K. Karunakaran literally had to push him into the seat next to Subramaniam.

Congress’s Appeal

The fate of the Congress-led assemblies in northern India continued to be in suspense as the Union Cabinet put off its decision on their dissolution. The Supreme Court had taken up the suits filed by Congress-run governments of Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh against the Centre’s move. Congress governments have taken the matter to the SC invoking the original jurisdiction of the highest court of the land under Article 131, which deals with Centre-state disputes. Chief Minister Binayak Acharya urged the acting president, B.D. Jatti, not to act on any advice of the Union cabinet on the question of dissolution of assemblies until the Supreme Court tendered its advice.

Indo-Soviet Talks

Talks between the Soviet and Indian Foreign Ministers opened with a one-hour preliminary round during which they agreed that friendly relations should be strengthened. This was stated by Minister for External Affairs, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on behalf of both ministers after their talks which began within three hours of Andrei Gromyko’s arrival for the Soviet leadership’s first contact with the new Indian government.