Narayana Murthy's son-in-law leads Indian-origin MP list in UK

London, Mar 22: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's son-in-law is leading the list of ethnic minority MPs expected to win seats for the Conservative party in the May 7 General Election in the UK.

The UK-based Rishi Sunak will contest from former foreign secretary William Hague's constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire.

The Oxford University and Stanford MBA graduate, who co-founded a 1-billion pound global investment firm and specialised in investing in small British businesses, is expected to make the "class of 2015" as the most high profile new Indian-origin MP.

"I'm over the moon. It's an incredible privilege to represent this really special part of the world, and to follow in the footsteps of William Hague," the 34-year-old had said in reference to his selection for the Tory party.

A new study found that the Conservatives overall could have more ethnic minority MPs elected than Opposition Labour for the first time in the next parliament.

The Tories could see more new black and Asian MPs entering the House of Commons in three out of five possibilities considered for the general election by British Future, a think tank specialising in immigration and integration.

In the best outcome for Prime Minister David Cameron — a Conservative majority — the party could leapfrog Labour with 19 ethnic minority MPs overall compared with 15.

At the moment the Tories have 11 black and Asian MPs, while Labour has 16. The Liberal Democrats have no non-white members in the Commons — a situation which the think tank predicts will remain unchanged after the May poll, 'The Sunday Times' reported.

Whatever the outcome of the election, experts believe the total number of ethnic minority MPs will hit a new high, most likely to be around the 40-45 mark, paving the way for a potential black or Asian prime minister in future.

"Ethnic diversity is the 'new normal' in British politics," says the British Future report. MPs like Sajid Javid (the culture secretary) and Chuka Umunna (the shadow business secretary) are tipped as future party leaders.

While parliament still needs about 65 black and Asian MPs to make it representative of modern-day Britain, the think tank is all praise for the Tories for making significant progress.

The study says Labour has been more likely to select non-white candidates in seats the party hopes to gain. If Labour leader Ed Miliband were to end up with a majority, it predicts Labour could have 30 black and Asian MPs, compared to 15 Tories.

PTI