Former Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday came out in support of Rishi Sunak taking over at 10 Downing Street as the Conservative Party leader after her former boss, Boris Johnson withdrew from the leadership contest.
"In these difficult times for our country we must unite by putting public service first and work together. We care about our country and with the enormous challenges upon us we must put political differences aside to give @RishiSunak the best chance of succeeding," tweeted Patel.
Notably, earlier she supported former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"I'm backing @BorisJohnson to return as our Prime Minister, to bring together a united team to deliver our manifesto and lead Britain to a stronger and more prosperous future," tweeted Patel.
She added that Johnson has the mandate to deliver elected manifesto and a proven track record getting the big decisions right.
"I am backing him in the leadership contest," she said.
However, on Monday she said that the Tories must put political differences aside to give Sunak the best chance of succeeding as the new leader.
It seems now that this Diwali, UK could get its first Indian origin and Hindu PM Rishi Sunak who is the favourite in the conservative leadership.
Earlier, Boris Johnson ruled himself out of the Conservative party leadership race despite claiming he had the required support. Johnson said he had come to the conclusion "this would simply not be the right thing to do" as "you can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament," reported Independent.ie.
He also added that this was due to the failure to reach a deal with Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt. "I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds," he said.
It is pertinent to note that Johnson's campaign team has earlier told supporters they have secured the 100 nominations needed from MPs for the former prime minister to get on the ballot paper.
The contest was triggered by outgoing leader Liz Truss's resignation on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Sunak as per media reports had crossed that threshold by Friday night, ahead of declaring his candidacy on Sunday and amassing nearly 150 public nominations from Tory lawmakers.
He is a wealthy Hindu descendant of immigrants from India and East Africa.
Sunak is born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who migrated to Britain from East Africa.
An Oxford and Stanford University alumnus, Sunak is famously married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of NR Narayana Murthy, the billionaire businessman who founded Infosys.
Earlier in April, reports of Akshata's non-domicile status and alleged tax evasion had created a furore. Rishi Sunak claimed that she has been paying all taxes.
Her spokesperson said that Akshata Murthy "has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income".
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor