PANAJI
Leo Varadkar (45), who traces his roots to the Konkan region, on Wednesday announced that he will resign as prime minister of Ireland and will also step down as leader of the ruling Fine Gael party.
At a press conference, Varadkar said he had decided to step down due to personal and political reasons.
Varadkar, who has served as Taoiseach (prime minister) from 2017 to 2020 and from December 2022 till date, is the son of a doctor from Varad, a village in Malvan-Sindhudurg, about 57 kms from Goa’s border.
Speaking to The Goan in 2017 shortly before he became Ireland’s youngest PM, locals in Malvan had said Leo’s father, Ashok, was born in Varad village and completed his school in the village and later pursued higher education in medicine in Mumbai.
Dr Ashok then emigrated to England in 1960 and later in 1973, married a nurse, Miriam, in England. The couple later shifted to Dublin and have three children, two daughters, Sofia and Sonia, and a son, Leo.
Leo also studied medicine in Dublin and had a meteoric rise in politics, after winning a seat in parliament in 2007, going on to serve as minister with several portfolios, before serving as prime minister of Ireland for two terms.
Varadkar became the second head of an EU state after Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa, to trace their roots in the Konkan region, as Costa hails from Margao.
On December 29, 2019, Varadkar, who was on a private visit to India, along with his family members had visited his ancestral village Varad, his first visit to the village of his roots have becoming prime minister of Ireland in June 2017.
The visit was a “special moment” as three generations of his family had gathered, the Ireland prime minister said after the villagers felicitated him.
He also visited the temple of the village deity.
“I am here with my parents, my sisters and their husbands, my partner and some grandchildren...so it is a big family visit,” the Irish PM had told the media at the time.
“I am on private visit here as of now, but I would like to visit this place again in the official capacity,” Varadkar added.
On December 30, Varadkar had arrived in Goa to usher in the New Year.
A police official had said Varadkar visit was entirely private and there were no official functions planned during his personal visit to India. He later flew back from Dabolim Airport to Delhi on New Year’s Day.
