Thiruvananthapuram/Kollam | Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday visited party veteran and former Defence Minister A K Antony at his residence in the Kerala capital, party sources said.

It was a courtesy call by Gandhi to the home of Antony, who quit active parliamentary politics in 2022, after his term as Rajya Sabha MP ended, and shifted base to his home state of Kerala.

The Congress veteran has been a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly since 1970 and became chief minister of the state thrice in 1977, 1995 and 2001.

Gandhi, the Lok Sabha member from Rae Bareli, arrived in Kerala a day ago to attend the memorial meeting organised by the party at Puthuppally in Kottayam district to mark the second death anniversary of Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy, a former chief minister of the state.

He also visited the family of C V Padmarajan in Paravur, Kollam, to offer his condolences.

Padmarajan, who held key portfolios in the cabinets of K Karunakaran and A K Antony and was also a former president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), died on Wednesday at the age of 94.

"Visited the family of Shri C V Padmarajan ji in Paravur, Kollam, to offer my heartfelt condolences. His contributions to Kerala and the Congress party will always be remembered with deep respect," Gandhi said in a Facebook post in which he also shared photographs of his visit.