They chucked IIT degrees to join politics

At a time when the academic qualifications of politicians are being doubted and fake degrees galore are rocking the political boat, here are some politicians who have graduated from prestigious institutions like IIT. Here is a list of IITian politicos:

1. Arvind Kejriwal: He is the Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Having graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, majoring in mechanical engineering. He joined Tata Steel in 1989 and was posted in Jamshedpur.

2. Manohar Parrikar: A member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the incumbent Defence Minister of India. He is the first IIT graduate to become the Chief Minister of any Indian state. He was awarded by IIT Bombay with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2001.

3. Prem Das Rai: He is a politician from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party. In the 2009 election, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Sikkim constituency. He has the distinction of being the first member of parliament with degrees from both IIT and IIM.

4. Jairam Ramesh: This Congress MP in Rajya Sabha representing Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha was a central minister. Ramesh graduated from IIT Bombay in 1975 with a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering.

5. Ajit Singh: He is the founder and chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, a political party recognized in western part of state of Uttar Pradesh, and son of former Prime Minister of India Choudhary Charan Singh. He pursued B.Tech. from IIT Kharagpur and was a computer scientist by profession.