 "Obama nominates Richard Verma as US ambassador to India")
Verma, an Indian-American, served as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs at the State Department in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011.
He is currently a senior counsellor at Steptoe & Johnson law firm and the Albright Stonebridge Group, a business advisory company, led by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
White House officials said Verma has close relationships with Obama's White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and senior adviser John Podesta. He will be the first Indian-American to do the job.
If he is confirmed by Congress, Verma will replace Nancy Powell, who resigned in March after a damaging row over the treatment of a junior Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, who was accused by authorities in New York of visa fraud and underpaying a domestic worker.
Khobragade was arrested and strip-searched in New York last year, an incident that took the US-India relationship to its lowest ebb in a decade.
The US Embassy in New Delhi is currently headed by a charge d'affaires, Kathleen Stephens.
Modi is due to visit Washington September 29-30 for a trip aimed at revitalising ties and clearing the air. Modi was denied a visa to the US in 2005, after communal riots in 2002 killed more than a thousand people in Gujarat when he was the chief minister of the state.
The US sees India as a natural ally on a range of issues and a potential counterbalance to an increasingly assertive China in Asia and is keen to expand relations across the board, particularly in the security sphere.
In 2010, Obama declared the US-India relationship would be “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century,” but ties have so far failed to live up fully to this billing.
Some analysts have questioned whether an Indian-American would be the best choice as ambassador, given ambivalence among some in India about the diaspora in the US.
They have said it was important for the US to pick “a heavy-hitter” close to Obama to show it considered India a real strategic partner.
Verma’s association with Obama goes back to 2008, when he worked on presidential debate preparations for the then-Illinois senator. Verma's parents came to the US in the early 1960s having lived through India's fight for independence from Britain and partition, White House officials said.
With US lawmakers about to leave town to spend the next six weeks campaigning for the November 4 congressional elections, Verma will not be confirmed by the Senate before mid-November.
The Obama administration has been fighting with the Senate all year to get its nominees confirmed more quickly. There are currently dozens of nominees awaiting confirmation by the US Senate.
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- Verma is currently a senior counselor at Steptoe & Johnson law firm and the Albright Stonebridge Group, a business advisory company
- If confirmed by US Congress, Verma will replace Nancy Powell, who had resigned in March
- Verma’s association with Obama goes back to 2008, when he worked on presidential debate preparations for the then-Illinois senator
- Verma’s parents came to the US in the early 1960s