David Cameron in November 2014 had publicly declared that he would wish to see a British-Indian Prime Minister in his lifetime. Possibly taking a hint from him, the Conservative party is now reportedly fielding the highest number of Parliamentary candidates (PPCs) of Black and minority ethnic (BAME) origin, including Indians. The recent British Future Survey said Cameron's party now has as many non-white candidates as Labour - and is on course to overtake Labour on number of non-white MPs if they win outright majority.
Around 45 (BAME) group candidates have been chosen in England and Wales which does not include the 11 Conservative MPs from BAME backgrounds who are already in the Parliament.
The list includes nearly 12 new candidates of Indian origin. Some of the new candidates are: Natasha Asghar from Newport East, Kishan Devani from Leicester East, Samir Jassal from East Ham, Vidhi Mohan from Croydon North, Simon Nayyar from Feltham, Suria Photay from Wolverhampton, Suhail Rahuja from Horsney, Gurcharan Singh from Slough, Rishi Sunak from Richmond (Yorkshire) and Bob Dhillon from Washington and Sunderland West.
The party's current four top leaders in Parliament are of Indian origin viz. Alok Sharma who is MP from Reading West, Shailesh Vara who is MP from North West Cambridgeshire, Paul Uppal MP from Wolverhampton South West and Priti Patel who is a cabinet Minister and also the elected member from Witham.
With just 25 days to go for the general election, the electoral database says Indians make up the largest BAME group in 175 constituencies in England and Wales. The Indian-born population is now the largest foreign-born group in the country and is expected to play kingmaker.
Chairman of the Conservative Party Grant Shapps reportedly said, "I'm delighted that we've got record numbers of BAME candidates standing for election in May. This has been achieved by encouraging the best people - regardless of background - to come forward and represent the Conservative Party. It's important to have politicians who reflect the diversity of the UK as a whole. However, while I welcome the progress we've made, there's still more to do to ensure that talented aspiring politicians from all communities get involved".
