‘Incredibly Proud’: UK PM Contender Sunak’s Praise for Father-In-Law Narayana Murthy is Most Indian Thing You'll Watch Today

Rishi Sunak said he is ‘incredibly proud of his in-laws’ when questioned over his wife Akshata Murthy’s previous non-domiciled tax status and her family’s wealth during the Conservative leadership debate on Sunday.

“I’m actually incredibly proud of what my parents-in-law built,” Sunak said during the debate.

Rishi Sunak, the former UK finance minister whose resignation precipitated the fall of outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson, is the son-in-law of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy.

He married NR Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murthy in August 2009.

Sunak is the frontrunners in the race for the UK prime minister and Conservative Party leader.

When questioned over controversy surrounding his wife Akshata Murthy’s non-domicile status, Sunak fired back saying the story of his wife’s family is an inspiration for everyone.

“My father-in-law came from absolutely nothing, just had a dream and a couple of hundred pounds that my mother-in-law’s savings provided him,” Rishi Sunak said, giving a small glimpse into the origin story of the Indian tech behemoth.

“With that he went on to build one of the world’s largest, most respected, most successful companies that by the way employs thousands of people here in the United Kingdom,” Sunak said.

Sunak went on to say that this story reflects the values of his party.

“(This is) an incredibly Conservative story, it’s a story I’m really proud of and as the prime minister I want to ensure that we can create more stories like theirs here at home,” Sunak said.

‘Biggest Supporter Of Mine’

In another interview with CNBCTV18’s Shereen Bhan in 2015, Rishi Sunak recalled the time when his father-in-law Narayana Murthy flew to London to campaign for him when he contested the 2015 polls for the Richmond (Yorks) constituency, which was the constituency of UK’s ex-foreign minister William Hague.

While speaking to Bhan, Sunak said that he spoke to Narayana Murthy years ago about his wish to enter politics and fight elections from Richmond.

“He noticed it was an ambition of mine and he was incredibly supportive,” Sunak said.

Sunak also said NR Narayana Murthy flew in to help him on his campaign trail and quickly got on with the task of spreading Sunak’s campaign pamphlets.

“He has been my No. 1 supporter. He flew in just in time for the elections. It was a rare change for him where he was told what to do. They gave him a bag and some leaflets and (he gave those) leaflets to everyone without engaging in too much debate… which he managed admirably well,” Sunak said.

Sunak faced questions about his wife’s wealth and Infosys’ operations in Moscow when he was the chancellor to the exchequer and the war on Ukraine began.

Media outlets, rivals and tabloids accused Sunak of not following his own advice he gave to UK people and businesses – where he urged them to boycott and severe ties with anything representing Russia – at his own home.

Akshata owns about 0.93% of the IT-behemoth and faced questions over paying taxes on overseas income in the UK due to her status as a non-domiciled citizen.

“I’ve always been a completely normal UK taxpayer, my wife is from another country so she’s treated differently, but she explained that in the spring and she resolved that issue, but there is commentary about my wife’s family’s wealth,” Sunak said during the debate on Sunday.

“So let me just address that head on, because I’m actually incredibly proud of what my parents-in-law built,” Sunak said.

Sunak along with contenders Kemi Badenoch, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt will find out if they are going to the next round of the race to become Conservative Party leader and UK prime minister when fellow MPs vote on Tuesday and Wednesday to select the final two contenders.

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