AK Antony’s son charged with bribery; BJP leader dismisses it as dirty politics of Congress
Anil dismissed the charges calling it part of dirty politics of Congress.
In a significant development, the Believers Eastern Church has announced its support to Anil K Antony, BJP’s candidate in Pathanamthitta constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The announcement was reportedly made at a meeting held at the youth centre of the church in Tiruvalla, and attended by the Church president Mathews Silvanios Metropolitan on Monday.Fr Sijo Pantappalli, the official spokesperson of the Church, and around 100 priests and church members attended the meeting.
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Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader AK Antony , also addressed the meeting. This marks the first instance of a church body in the State extending support to a BJP candidate.
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It has also been reported that the Believers Church has also pledged its backing to Union minister Rajiv Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.
Founded by Athanasius Yohan widely known as self-styled evangelist K P Yohannan, the Tiruvalla-headquartered Believers Eastern Church had been under the radar of the BJP-led government at the Centre for allegedly receiving foreign funds through the NGOs run by it.
It has been reported that in 2020, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was in the process of launching a detailed probe into the Believers Church’s activities after the Income Tax department unearthed massive unaccounted money transactions which were carried out by different trusts under the Church.
Anil is locked in a triangular fight in Pathanamthitta against incumbent MP Anto Antony of Congress, and CPI-M’s central committee member T M Thomas Isaac in Pathanamthitta. In Thiruvananthapuram, Rajeev Chandrasekhar is facing stiff challenge from Shashi Tharoor of Congress and Panniyan Raveendran of CPI.
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