Rishi Sunak to be UK’s next prime minister

At 42, Rishi Sunak is the youngest UK prime minister in modern history. Rishi Sunak became British prime minister on Monday after other candidates withdrew from the race to lead the Conservative Party. Penny Mordaunt, the last rival left after Boris Johnson dramatically pulled out, failed to secure the necessary 100 nominations from her fellow MPs.

Sunak, a wealthy Hindu descendant of immigrants from India and East Africa, will have the task of steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.

In India, several political leaders across party lines, took to Twitter to congratulate Sunak.

Former Union minister and veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram said I there is a lesson to be learned by India and the parties that practise majoritarianism.

“First Kamala Harris, now Rishi Sunak. The people of the U.S. and the U.K have embraced the non-majority citizens of their countries and elected them to high office in government. I think there is a lesson to learned by India and the parties that practise majoritarianism,” Chidambaram tweeted.

Rishi Sunak became UK’s prime minister on Monday replacing his once leadership rival Liz Truss as the country faces a severe economic crisis. The former UK chancellor Rishi Sunak gained the support of his party to bag the top post becoming the first Indian-origin prime minister of the UK.

Born in UK’s Southampton to an Indian family, Rishi Sunak is the son of a pharmacist mother and a National Health Service (NHS) general practitioner father.