<\/p>\n
Locals upbeat about Rishi Sunak in his hometown<\/p>\n
Neena Sharma<\/p>\n
Southampton,(United kingdom), \u00a0July 20<\/p>\n
From a first time MP in 2015, to chancellor of the exchequer in 2020 and now battling for the top job at No 10 with Liz Truss, Indian-origin Rishi Sunak\u2019s story so far has been one of a meteoric rise to the top in the Conservative party echelons.<\/p>\n
While only time will tell whether Sunak creates history on September 7, when the results for the Tory leadership contest would be announced, nevertheless, he has managed to create a fair-amount of buzz in the city of his birth.\u00a0\u00a0Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton, a port city to emigrants Yashwir Sunak and Asha Sunak, whose families had earlier migrated from Punjab to Kenya and then finally moving to England in the 60s.<\/p>\n
In Southampton on Burgess Road, Asha Sunak ran a pharmacy, while Yashwir Sunak worked as a GP at a local hospital. \u201cThe Sunak\u2019s sold the pharmacy business in 2014 and it is no longer called Sunak Pharmacy, but carries the name of Bassett Pharmacy,\u201d recalled Vinod. Like most first and second-generation emigrant families, the Sunak family too focussed on providing good education to their son. Rishi was schooled at the posh Winchester College, which also happens to be Mumbai actor Saif Ali Khan Pataudi\u2019s school.<\/p>\n
After private schooling at Winchester College, where he was a head boy, he went on to do a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford university. He followed it up with a master\u2019s in business administration at Stanford University in the US. At Stanford University, he became friends with Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Infosys chairman and founder Narayan Murthy, whom he later married.<\/p>\n
Rishi Sunak\u2019s foray into electoral politics began in 2015, when he was selected to succeed Tory leader William Hague from Richmond, Yorkshire. He won the seat in 2015 and was again reelected in 2019. Between 2018 and 2019 he served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Local Government before entering the Cabinet in 2019 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In February 2020, he became one of the youngest chancellors in history. Amidst the hurly burly of politics, Sunak has managed to keep in touch with the\u00a0 the city of his birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was appointed a Chancellor, he made it a point to visit Southampton.\u00a0\u00a0Even now, after announcing his candidature for the top party post, Rishi did not forget to seek blessings at the local temple here. A week ago, on a Sunday the family had organised a small function. Rishi had visited the temple with his parents and wife. The family is very humble and down to earth,\u201d said Manju Chopra, a family friend, who resides in Southampton.<\/p>\n
While Sunak has been consistently ahead of\u00a0\u00a0Lis Truss in all the rounds so far, the battle is expected to get tough in the coming days as both the contenders\u00a0\u00a0turn to their party for support.\u00a0\u00a0On 19 July a YouGov poll of Conservative Party members showed that Truss would defeat Sunak, er most likely rival in the final two and seemingly the most popular candidate among both MPs and the public.<\/p>\n
(Neena Sharma is a senior journalist presently staying at Southampton, United Kingdom)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Locals upbeat about Rishi Sunak in his hometown Neena Sharma Southampton,(United kingdom), \u00a0July 20 From a first time MP in 2015, to chancellor of the exchequer in 2020 and now battling for the top job at No 10 with Liz Truss, Indian-origin Rishi Sunak\u2019s story so far has been one of a meteoric rise …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,33,91,56],"tags":[557,555,554,558,556],"class_list":["post-2197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-national","category-politics","tag-british-prime-minister","tag-conservative-party","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-southamptonw","tag-united-kingdom"],"yoast_head":"\n