<P> In 1971, Menon contested as an independent candidate and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Trivandrum, in his home state of Kerala . </P> <P> The jeep scandal case in 1948 was the first major corruption case in independent India . Menon, then Indian high commissioner to Britain, ignored protocols and signed a Rs 8 million contract for the purchase of army jeeps with a foreign firm . While most of the money was paid upfront and 155 jeeps landed, the then Prime Minister Nehru forced the government to accept them . </P> <P> Menon was an intensely controversial figure during his life, and has remained so even well after his death . Widely described as brilliant and arrogant, he was known for the sheer force of his personality, and for his eloquence and wit as an orator . In response to US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' assertion that US weapons supplied to Pakistan were intended solely for defence against a Soviet invasion, Menon snapped that "the world has yet to see an American gun that can only shoot in one direction", and that "I am yet to come across a vegetarian tiger". In London, Menon responded to novelist Brigid Brophy's surprise at the quality of his English with the retort: "my English is better than yours . You merely picked it up: I learnt it ." When critiqued for the Rolls - Royces he kept as official vehicles, he replied, "I can scarcely hire a bullock - cart to call on 10 Downing Street .". Personally, Menon preferred to use London's double - decker buses whenever possible, underscoring the contrast between his public appearance as a statesman and his personal asceticism . Indian President R. Venkataraman would later describe him as "the very epitome of a representative of the (...) Indian State, personally abstemious but at the same time uncompromising in maintaining the prestige of his high office ." </P> <P> In private, Menon abstained from tobacco, alcohol and meat, often fasting for days, and forwent his luxury townhouse in Kensington Palace Gardens in favour of a single room in the Indian High Commission during his official tenure in London . As high commissioner, Menon drew only the token salary of one rupee per month, later refusing a salary outright . Menon nonetheless dressed publicly in bespoke suits, earning him the epithet "Mephistopheles in a Savile Row suit", </P>

Which poltician has not served as an officer in indian foreign service