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A patient ear and a wide network of friends across political parties, NGOs and industries made former Union cabinet minister Murli Deora — Murlibhai to those who knew him — a dependable destination during any crisis.
Mumbaikars in general and Congress members in particular knew that all their troubles could be addressed by a visit to Deora’s personal office near Churchgate station in south Mumbai or the party headquarters near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, where he could often be found. He was always ready to listen to everyone and take up their cause.
The much-loved Murlibhai died on Monday, at his home, after a prolonged illness for which he had been hospitalised. He was 77 and is survived by his wife and two sons, including former minister Milind Deora.
An industrialised and social worker, Deora began his career in the choppy waters of Mumbai politics in 1968, when he was elected to the municipal corporation. He became the mayor in 1977, with the support of the Shiv Sena.
There were minor setbacks from time to time, like the defeat in his maiden Lok Sabha election in 1980, when he lost the south Bombay seat to Janata Party’s Ratansingh Rajda.
But Deora went on to win four Lok Sabha elections after that and served as the chief of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee for a record 22 years from 1981 to 2003, actively mobilising funds for the party.
Attempted coups by different factions to unseat him were weathered as he continued to make his mark on the party’s work. Close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, he organised the successful roadshow for former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004 and inducted into then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet as the petroleum minister in January 2006, Deora led the oil diplomacy in Myanmar, Algeria and Egypt and held talks with the ministers from Sudan and Ethiopia. He also chaired important parliamentary standing committees such as finance.
During his tenure as the petroleum minister, Deora was attacked by the opposition parties for his proximity to the Ambani family. He, however, preferred to bypass the criticism and continue with his work, like resolving a strike of the employees of the oil companies.
He would also be sorely missed at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the Indian Red Cross Society, with which he was closely associated.
