UDUPI's daughter Shilpa Hegde, 44, is basking in glory in a faraway country- Australia. She had made the people of Udupi proud in 2013 when she was selected as the candidate by the top Liberal Party leaders of Australia to contest in the federal election from Wills in Melbourne.
Though she did not win the seat, Shilpa’s keenness in politics has got her the best. She has been recently made one among 12 executive committee members of the Liberal Party headed by PM Scott Morrison. Shilpa is the first Indian woman to be in the highest decision-making body of the party.
As the upcoming federal election will be due in Australia by the end of this year or by early 2022, Shilpa who hails from Perdoor village of Udupi district will take the onus of selecting the party candidates and take responsibilities on the matters of the Liberal Party to make it win the next federal election.
Shilpa, an alumnus of NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte, Karkala, had moved to Australia 20 years ago. She always loved her native village and made it a custom to visit it along with her family members often.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Shilpa, who works as an IT consultant for global company DWS, said that she feels good to be on the executive committee as her party shows concerns for the migrant population in Australia.
"Migrant community had no fair representation in the Australian government. So I joined the party many years back and started working for the welfare of the migrant people. Now as a member of the executive committee of the party, I will have to endorse the party candidates selected by the local people through the ‘pre-selection procedure, and after a thorough scrutiny of the candidate’s profile, his or her candidature will be finalized. This is a major responsibility to ensure suitable candidates are in the fray," she said.
Shilpa’s husband Dayanand Shetty, a businessman in Australia, has been supporting her since the time she entered politics. The couple’s son Nihal, 18, who is studying, has also shown interest in politics by joining the youth wing of the Liberal Party -- ‘Young Liberal’. Another son Sahil, 16, is in an 11th-year course of education.
Shilpa may contest in the next state parliament election in 2022.