Again, Saint Antony!

By John Cheeran
A K Antony, that humble politician from Kerala, has been picked by Congress high priestess Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to head the defence portfolio in the Union Cabinet.
So A. K. Antony will be handling the affairs of A.K.47 henceforth.
Kerala had supplied India a legendary defence minister when Jawaharlal Nehru ruled India. V.K. Krishna Menon's illustrious career, however, lost much of its sheen in the aftermath of Chinese war.
The gulf between V.K. and A.K. is too big to be bridged.
And it would be foolish to expect Antony to climb the heights Krishna occupied.
For one thing, Krishna had the absolute trust of Nehru. But he was never a yes man to Nehru.
Antony, even after betraying Indira Gandhi in the post-emergency phase, worked his way through to Indira-Sonia camp playing the loyalty card.
Antony, I'm told, is a politician who upholds principles.
Through a series of perfectly timed resignations Antony has assiduously built an image of saint who has no lust for the temptations of power.
The last time Antony resigned he was the chief minister of Kerala. Antony resigned when the United Democratic Front suffered a bruising defeat in the elections to the Parliament. It could have been called anything but a resignation.
Antony had resigned in the past owning up moral responsibility, a curious phrase to be employed in power politics.
But Antony's proclivity for resignations is nothing but a lack of guts to fight and set the system right. And in the Defence Ministry where murky deals are made and unmade Antony should be prepared to do a clean up operation rather than washing his hands off.
Antony himself is above corruption.
But he will have to display immense political will to make a difference to his new role. Antony will do good to remember that the decline of Congress (I) began with a defence deal (Bofors) that came out into open thanks to an intrepid V.P. Singh's intervention.