Jill Biden's policy director Mala Adiga has roots in Karnataka's Udupi

Mala Adiga, the policy director of President-elect Joe Biden’s wife Jill Biden, has roots in the South Indian state of Karnataka. According to a PTI report, the policymaker for the first lady of the United States has connections with Kakkunje village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district.  Mala belongs to the K Suryanarayana Adiga family and is the niece of  Nirmala Upadhya. The family founded  the Dakshina Kannada District private sector Karnataka Bank Limited. The policy director is also connected to Aravind Adiga, who won the Man Booker Prize 2008 for his novel, "The White Tiger”. 

According to PTI, Nirmala Upadhya, Mala’s aunt told reporters at Udupi that Mala Adiga is generally an affectionate and a lovely girl, one that treasures relationships. Further, the lady informed that the US policymaker for future first lady has roots in India, and in a telephonic conversation, the former had informed about the good news to the 87-year-old. Mala said that she would assume the office of a senior staffer at the White House when Biden takes office as President of the USA in January. Mala’s father Dr. Ramesh Adiga is aged 84 and is the second of the three siblings, according to PTI. 

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[US future first lady Jill Biden and President-elect Joe Biden. Credit: Twitter/@priyathosh6447]

Left for US aged 25

Mala had left India for the US to pursue studies to become a vascular surgeon at the young age of 25. Mala’s mother Jaya Adiga had studied medicine at a university in Vellore and the family had a get-together in 2019 in Bangalore. Nirmala had attended the family get together with her daughter Sujatha Nakkatthaya, where Mala was present with her husband Charles and her daughter Asha.  Further the 87-year-old revealed that Mala Adiga had performed a pooka ceremony at the Kakkunje temple during her visit to India. She had also gone on a trip to Babbarianakatte in order to visit the ancestral homes of the family.

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(image Credit: PTI)