• Thursday, March 28, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

My daughter made her husband PM, says Sunak’s mother-in-law Sudha Murty

Sudha Murty (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

Indian philanthropist Sudha Murty has said her daughter Akshata Murty “made her husband a prime minister”.

The junior Murty, a businesswoman, is the wife of British prime minister Rishi Sunak, who became the country’s first premier of Asian origin last October.

While 42-year-old Sunak’s quick ascension to power (he is the youngest to become the prime minister of Britain) has been discussed before, his mother-in-law clamed that it was his daughter who made it possible.

Sunak first got elected as a parliamentarian in 2015 and rose fast through the ranks to become the chief secretary to the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer before becoming the premier in just seven years.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Murty, 72, could be heard saying: “I made my husband a businessman. My daughter made her husband Prime Minister of the UK.”

“The reason is the glory of the wife. See how a wife can change a husband. But I could not change my husband. I made my husband a businessman, and my daughter made her husband a Prime Minister,” Murty said in the post.

Sudha Murty is married to Narayana Murthy, a billionaire who has founded India’s tech giant Infosys.

Akshata Murty, who was born in Hubballi in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, was married to Sunak in 2009. She has an estimated personal fortune of around £730 million and is considered among the most powerful women in the world.

In the video, Sudha Murty also speaks about how her daughter has influenced Sunak’s life in other ways, particularly when it comes to eating.

The Murthy family, she said, has long followed a tradition of fasting every Thursday.

“Yes, what should be started on Thursday, they started Infosys on Thursday, not only that! Not only that, but our son-in-law, who married our daughter, has been in England for 150 years from their ancestor’s time, but they are very religious. After getting married, he asked why you start anything on Thursday. They said that we will go to Raghavendra Swami. He fasts every Thursday after just saying good day. Our son-in-law’s mother fasts every Monday but our son-in-law fasts on Thursdays,” she said.

Sudha Murty recently was awarded Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, and both her daughter and son-in-law expressed their pride over her feat.

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