Sudha Murty, philanthropist, author, and Sunak's mother-in-law, is nominated to the Indian Parliament

Sudha Murty, a philanthropist, author, and mother-in-law of Sunak, has been nominated to the Indian Parliament.

The International Women's Day accolade left Murty 'doubly thrilled'.

The mother-in-law of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Indian novelist and philanthropist Sudha Murty, has been nominated to the Indian parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Friday that Ms Murty, 73, had been nominated by India's president, Draupadi Murmu, to serve in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament.

"Sudha Ji has made enormous and inspirational contributions to a wide range of sectors, including social work, philanthropy, and education..." I hope her time in parliament is productive," Mr Modi wrote in a post on X.

The Indian prime minister announced Ms Murty's nomination on International Women's Day, referring to her position in the upper house as "a powerful testament" to the advancement of women in her country.

Considering their contributions to the social sciences, literature, the arts, and the sciences, the president proposes twelve members to the upper house of parliament.

Ms Murty is an educator and philanthropist awarded India's third-highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, last year for her social efforts. She is married to Narayana Murthy, a millionaire co-founder of Infosys.

Her profession began as an engineer. She also served as the Infosys Foundation's previous chair. Akshata Murty, her daughter, is married to Mr Sunak.

Ms. Murty expressed her delight at receiving the accolade on Women's Day and said she was pleasantly surprised by Friday's announcement.

"The announcement caught me off guard. Thus, I still need to develop my ideas for serving in parliament. She told The Hindu newspaper, "I'll see what I can do to use this platform to work for the people of India.

Ms. Murty has made multiple appearances on Indian television shows.

When she appeared as a guest on The Kapil Sharma Show last year, she talked about her experience with a UK immigration officer who didn't think her home address in Britain was 10 Downing Street.

She caused a stir a few days before her show debut when she was questioned if communal politics had taken precedence in the state of Karnataka, south India, during elections.

Before the elections, the state saw politically motivated community demonstrations by right-wing groups against females who choose to wear the hijab.

Ms Murty's comment that she was not "politically savvy" and did not "worry about those things" went viral on social media, with many criticising her for being privileged enough to be unconcerned with issues impacting minorities in the nation.