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US ambassador to India Nancy J Powell resigned on Monday amid ongoing tension between the two countries in bilateral issues and with the diplomatic spat over the Devyani Khobragade issue still raging.
Powell, who was Director-General of the Foreign Service at Washington before her New Delhi assignment, was planning the resignation "for some time", said a release issued by the US Embassy here late in the evening on Monday.
Powell took over as US ambassador to India on April 19, 2012. However, her two-year stint saw one of the worst periods in India-US diplomatic and bilateral relationship, during which the two countries sparred with each other over trade and investment issues.
All hell broke loose when Khobragade, India's former deputy consul general in New York, was arrested and strip-searched over allegations of visa fraud and making false statements in December 2013.
"This, in a way, put the final nail in the coffin. The US government was extremely miffed with the fact that she could not put up a strong face amidst the diplomatic row even as the Indian government went all out to fight out the embarrassment it faced," said a former diplomat, who did not wish to be named.
The Khobragade episode saw the Indian government withdraw some of the special privileges the US consulate staff enjoyed in India. It stopped all commercial activities within the embassy premises, withdrew airport passes and changed the security cordon in front the consulate offices.
According to another official, the US government had been wanting to replace Powell with somebody "bolder and younger" as India prepares for a change in government. It seems the Obama administration did not like her strategic moves, especially delaying talks with Gujarat chief minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
During her 37-seven year career, Powell, 67, was posted as US ambassador to Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan, Nepal and India.
India and the US have been also entangled in a bitter imbroglio over India's trade and industrial policies. American firms, especially in the pharmaceutical sector, have been particularly vocal over the country's patent regime and laws governing intellectual property rights.
