Murli Deora

Murli Deora Biography

Murli Deora was a politician and parliamentarian from Maharashtra belonging to Indian National Congress. A senior Congress Party leader, he served as a parliamentarian from Mumbai South Constituency between 1984 and 1996 and was Minister of Corporate Affairs. His son Milind Murli Deora is one of the youngest politicians associated with Indian National Congress who served as a cabinet minister during 2011-2014. His son is married to Pooja Shetty, daughter of famous filmmaker Manmohan Shetty. Pooja currently heads the film production company "Walk Water Media".

He was born in 1937 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. His family hails from Sikar, Rajasthan. He is an industrialist turned social worker and politician. He started his active career in the politics in mid-1960s. He got elected to Mumbai Municipal Corporation in 1968. In 1977, with the support of Shiv Sena, he became the Mayor of Mumbai Corporation. He contested Lok Sabha elections for the first time from Mumbai South constituency in 1980. But he lost to Ratansingh Rajda of Janata party. But he got elected from the same constituency in 1989 and 1991 assembly elections. He lost next two elections - 1996 and 1999 from the same constituency. But in 2004 and 2009, his son got elected to parliament from the same constituency.

He served as the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. In 2006 he was appointed as Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, his first term as a cabinet minister. Deora retained the portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Gas after 2009 assembly elections, when Manmohan Singh returned to power once again. He passed away on 24 November 2014. He was active in politics till his death.

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Updated: June 26, 2016