Rahul 'Richard' Verma has become the second high-ranking Indian-American official in the Obama administration to resign and return to the private sector.
President Barack Obama has nominated Rahul 'Richard' Verma, currently a partner with the top-notch international law firm in Washington,DC -- Steptoe & Johnson LLP -- as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, and sources told Rediff India Abroad that considering that he has been a much respected Congressional staffer, his confirmation process before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the coming weeks would be a shoo-in.
Verma, 46, is the first Indian-American to be the US ambassador to India and is expected to be sworn in shortly.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
Forty-eight-year-old Verma, who played a quiet but key role in deepening Indo-US ties, will quit before the president-elect assumes charge as his team said the envoys, who are political appointees, will not be given any "grace period" beyond Trump's inauguration day.
Top American lawmakers and eminent Indian-Americans have hailed President Barack Obama's decision to nominate Richard Rahul Verma as his next envoy to India, noting that he would make an excellent ambassador.
Vikram J Singh, the highest-ranking Indian American at the Pentagon is quitting his administration job to head up the national security division at the Center for American Progess -- a Washington, DC progressive think tank with close links to President Obama -- which has at its helm another Indian American, Neera Tanden.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the setting up of a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) to take over the affairs of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
'We use the word "historic" perhaps too much, but the prime minister's visit certainly was historic in so many ways.'
Sonia Gandhi's iftar was meant to be a powerful show of unity of Opposition parties to take on the Modi Sarkar, but that was not to be...
