Bengaluru: M Veerappa Moily has donned several hats in the past. He was the chief minister of Karnataka and went on to become the union minister. However, on Monday, the nameplate outside his residence had been changed. It now reads ‘M Veerappa Moily, Advocate-Supreme Court of India’. The old nameplate that read ‘Former Chief Minister’ has been replaced, hinting that he has bid adieu to Khadi!
After the recent poll debacle, the senior Congress leader has now returned to where he came from. At 79, Moily is donning his black coat all over again and is seen in the High Court premises, sharp at 10 am. He is often seen interacting with the senior and junior advocates.
A BA LLB graduate had started his career as an advocate in the 1960s, but when politics beckoned, he went on to wear the Khadi, but the black coat remained close to heart. In fact, Moily was practising law even when he won his first assembly elections 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 told TNIE adding that he is happy to return to legal fraternity again.
“I always wanted to be a lawyer because I wanted to bring justice to the poor. Finally, I am able to do it all over again. I am yet to attend hearings,” he said.
Moily, a native of Moodabidri represented Chikkaballapur in the Lok Sabha for two terms since 2009. He served was elected as an MLA for six terms and also became the CM during 1992-94. He became the Union Law Minister, Cabinet Affairs Minister and also Energy and Petroleum Minister in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.
Moily, who had written an epic poem ‘Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam’ is also now busy pursuing his literary work. He is penning down an autobiography and also a Kannada novel, which will be released soon.
