Trump urged to appoint US envoy to India on priority basis

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ An influential US lawmaker has urged President Donald Trump to appoint America’s new ambassador to India on a priority basis, saying that Washington’s relation with New Delhi is of utmost importance.

The position has been lying vacant since January 20 when Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. In June, the White House said that Kenneth I Juster, 62, a top economic aide of Trump and an expert on India, will be America’s new ambassador to India.

“As the co-founder and former chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India, Indian issues and representing one of the largest Indian-American constituencies in Congress, the relationship between our two great nations is of the utmost importance to me and my constituencies. I urge you to make the appointment of a US ambassador to India a top priority of your administration,” Congressman Frank Pallone said in a letter to Trump.

The letter to Trump dated August 22 was posted by Pallone on twitter. “After more than seven months in office, this critical appointment is long overdue and should be an immediate priority,” Pallone said a day after Trump sought India’s increasing role in Afghanistan. India is “our strongest ally” in South Asia, “which you referred in your address” to the nation on Monday, he said.