Lesser-Known Facts About Milind Deora, Former Union Minister Who Quit Congress Today

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, Milind Deora, announced on Sunday morning that he has resigned from the Congress party. He is likely to join the Shiv Sena at 2 pm at the Maharashtra chief minister¡¯s residence.

Today marks the conclusion of a significant chapter in my political journey. I have tendered my resignation from the primary membership of @INCIndia, ending my family¡¯s 55-year relationship with the party.

I am grateful to all leaders, colleagues & karyakartas for their¡­

¡ª Milind Deora | ?????? ????? ?? (@milinddeora) January 14, 2024

Who is Milind Deora?

Son of a veteran politician Murli Deora, 47-year-old Milind Deora had first entered Parliament in 2004 - all of 27 years old, and became one of India's youngest MPs.

In 2004, Milind had become a Member of Parliament, representing the Mumbai South constituency, after winning the 2004 general elections against BJP's Jaywantiben Mehta with a margin of 10,000 votes .

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Deora was again elected from Mumbai South Constituency.

Wikipedia

In 2011, Milind Deora became the Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology.

In October 2012, he took on the responsibility of Minister of State for Shipping as well.

Milind Deora: Lesser-known facts about the politician

Here are 3 lesser-known facts about Milind Deora:

Soccer talent hunt

An initiative of Milind Deora is the Milind Deora Soccer Championship which is an annual football tournament for school students.

milinddeora.in

This initiative mainly aims to promote a relatively lesser-known sport among the under privileged part of the society and has a plan to extend the talent search in organising a tournament into a league format for Municipal and Government funded schools in South Mumbai.

A true-'blue' musician

In a video that went viral in March of 2022, Milind Deora was seen playing a blues song on the guitar, as a performer at the Mahindra Blues Festival, which celebrates a passion for blues, a musical genre.

And on the marquee tonight at the @mahindrablues was former MP & union minister @milinddeora (stage name: MD Mississippi) demonstrating his musical talents. Perhaps the only politician-blues musician in the world. His party is the INC, & with him, the ¡®C¡¯ stands for Cool! pic.twitter.com/ojJjRXN6nv

¡ª anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 12, 2022

Although Deora had first been handed a guitar at the age of seven, but it was during his years in Boston - where he did a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University - that Deora became enamoured with the blues genre.

From Stevie Ray Vaughan to Jimi Hendrix to BB King, he is a true Blues fan. Milind has played the guitar as a member of several blues bands.

He has also jammed with Soulmate, one of the country's most talented blues artists, based in Shillong.

His inspiration - his father, Murli Deora

"Unless you enjoy serving the people, politics is not worth your time."

This advice from Milind's father, Murli Deora, is what Milind says has been the guiding force behind his own career.

Murli Deora/ PTI

His website states, "Milind has known from a young age that an effective politician is made purely by a passion to build better lives for the people he or she serves."

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