Khadi to black coat, life comes full circle for Congress leader Veerappa Moily

Khadi to black coat, life comes full circle for Congress leader Veerappa Moily

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, June 26, 2019: Visitors to veteran Congress politician M Veerappa Moily’s house will now see a new nameplate, advertising him not as a ‘former Chief Minister’ or ‘former Union Minister’, but as an ‘Advocate-Supreme Court of India’.

On Monday, he changed the nameplate and proceeded to the High Court to resume his earlier job as an advocate.

At 79, Moily has done it all. From being a lawyer to an MLA, a Chief Minister, a parliamentarian and a Union Minister.

However, after his recent defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Moily is back to doing what he loves, arguing in court on behalf of his clients.

Keeping with the change, Moily will soon be seen in the High Court as well as the Supreme Court. In fact, for the past couple of days, he has been seen at the Karnataka High Court, showing up at 10 am and interacting with many senior and junior advocates.

A BA LLB graduate, Moily is no stranger to law. But his job as a parliamentarian and a member of the Union cabinet kept him away from the courts. However, after his electoral loss to BN Bacchegowda this year, he now plans to return to the profession he has been a part of since 1969. 

Speaking to TNIE about his plans, Moily said that he was practising law even when he won his first MLA election from Karkala.

“When I became the Small Scale Industries Minister in 1974, I did not have much time to dedicate to the legal field as I had to travel often across the state. All these years, I was busy in politics, serving in various positions, both in the party, state and at the national level,” he said.

On his choice of back to being a lawyer, he said, “I have always wanted to be an advocate since childhood. All I had in mind was to get poor justice. I am happy to be in court again. I am yet to attend hearings.” 

The senior politician from Dakshina Kannada represented Chikkaballapur in the Lok Sabha for two terms since 2009. His long career in politics includes six terms as an MLA and the post of Chief Minister of Karnataka between 1992 and 1994.

During Manmohan Singh’s term as PM, Moily served as the Union Law Minister, Cabinet Affairs Minister and also helmed the Energy and Petroleum ministries.

Besides counselling his clients, Moily is also busy penning down an autobiography as well as a Kannada novel, which will be out in the next three months.

Moily is a well-known author and his epic poem Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam, published in five volumes, has been lauded earlier. How does he juggle so many things at once?

“I begin my day at 5 am and spend time on writing daily. I visit Chikkaballapura every Saturday and interact with people there,” he said.

Courtesy:Indianexpress