Rishi Sunak set to be new UK prime minister

Rishi Sunak could be hours away from becoming the UK's next prime minister on Monday. The former chancellor and Penny Mordaunt are the only candidates who have formally declared participation in the race while ex-prime minister Boris Johnson who was widely expected to announce his candidacy pulled out of the race late last night.

Some Indians said on social media that Rishi becoming prime minister this year would be even more special as India recently celebrated 75 years of its independence from British colonial rule. "This (Diwali) is very special for India's magnificent cricket victory and in all likelihood, Rishi Sunak, a person of Indian origin, a practising Hindu and our own Narayana Murthy's son-in-law, becoming prime minister of UK," Chennai resident D. Muthukrishnan wrote on Twitter, referring to the founder of Indian software giant Infosys Ltd.

For the unversed, Rishi Sunak  is married to Infosys founder Narayana murthy's daughter, Akshata Murthy, is a practising Hindu and is known to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights. He has also been photographed lighting candles outside No 11 Downing Street to mark the occasion.