‘Democratic V-P pick friend of India’

Senator Tim Kaine is a strong advocate of the Indo-US relationship and a great friend of India, leading Indian-Americans have said after he was chosen by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to be her running mate.

“Great friend of Indian-Americans and India,” Silicon Valley-based Indian American entrepreneur M. Rangaswami said after Clinton announced her decision to have Virginia Senator Kaine as her vice-presidential running mate.

“A good friend of Indian Americans. A decent, honourable man with principled views and fully thought-through positions,” said Shekar Narasimhan, a leading Indian-American community leader from the Greater Washington Area.

“Someone I am proud to call a friend,” said Mr Narasimhan who was among the leading Indian-Americans to attend the Clinton-Kaine rally in Virginia last week.

“(Kaine) Will help propel Hillary Clinton to victory in 2016 and importantly, will be a great partner in governing this country,” Mr Narasimhan said.

Mr Rangaswami said Mr Kaine gave a “riveting foreign policy analysis” when he attended the Indiaspora Forum in 2015.

Mr Kaine is an active member of the powerful Senate India Caucus.

Incidentally, Ms Clinton is the founding member and first co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, which is the only country specific caucus in the Senate.

“I met him recently during the (Narendra) Modi visit — he was totally engaged in India related issues. He had read the entire speech of the Prime Minister and he generously gave me his copy as a souvenir,” Mr Rangaswami said.