US Senators Christopher Dodd, Connecticut Democrat and John Cornyn, Texas Republican have launched an attempt to revive the largely comatose US Senate India Caucus.
The newly re-constituted US Senate India Caucus will resurrect itself on Tuesday evening with its first meeting for the year during which it will also formally welcome India's Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, who assumed duties two months ago.
Us Senate India Caucus to urge President Obama to push for bilateral investment treaty with India; lawmakers hail Prime Minister's 'Brave Action' to open India to FDI in multi-brand retail sector.
US Senator Mark Warner, the new Democratic co-chair of the US Senate India Caucus, has pledged to grow the US-India partnership even further in his new role and promote joint innovation so that both countries could mutually benefit.
Influential United States Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, the new Democratic co-chair of the reconstituted US Senate India Caucus, who took over from the erstwhile Senator and now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in welcoming Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Washington, has said, "That President Obama chose the visit of Indian Prime Minister Singh as the occasion for the first State Dinner of his administration should come as no surprise."
Republican United States Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the founder and co-chair of the newly reconstituted US Senate India Caucus, believes that the Caucus is 'really unique' because "it's the only country caucus that I am aware in the Senate."Cornyn addressed the packed audience of Indian Americans community leaders from across the country.
India's Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar received a warm welcome at the first meeting of the newly reconstituted US Senate India Caucus, at the ornate Mansfield Room of the US Capitol, in the presence of more than two dozen Senators from across the political divide. She said the event was "a tribute to India, to the Indian American community in the United States, to the warm and strong ties between our two countries," she said.
United States Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, the new Democratic co-chair of the re-constituted US Senate India Caucus, feels that he has impossible shoes to fill, that of erstwhile Senator and now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Dodd, one of the senior-most members of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, addressed an overflowing audience of Indian Americans from across the country in the ornate Mansfield Room of the US Capitol.
In yet another sign of deepening relationship between India and the United States, the Friends of Indian Caucus in the US Senate is holding a rare Congressional reception for the new Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar.
'Indians go to vote next week -- the world's oldest democracy should both celebrate and perhaps analyse this event and its implications.' Dr S Jaishankar, India's ambassador to the US, offers prescriptions for India-US ties.
'The Senators were playing safe, not angering either the pro-India lobby or the pro-Pakistan lobby, but perhaps more importantly, the military-industrial complex -- the most powerful lobby of all -- which the majority of Senators are beholden to in terms of largesse to their campaign coffers.'