[3][4][5] He also served as the president of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.
He floated a new party called " Gandhi Kamaraj National Congress" breaking from Janatha party and had alliance with AIDMK in 1980 byelection contesting 10 seats and won 6 of them.
[10] Having failed to make any progress in elections, it merged with the Indian National Congress in 2001.
Ananthan's youngest brother H. Vasanthakumar was an entrepreneur and a politician.
His daughter is physician turned politician Tamilisai Soundararajan who has been appointed as Governor of Telangana and Puducherry.