JK News Today
Jammu, March 16 ( JKNT) : The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as the US ambassador to India Wednesday, ending more than two and half year long wait
The delay in the confirmation of the new US ambassador to India had led to many misgivings and apprehensions between Washington and Delhi . While the BJP government was waiting , the opposition was calling the delay as a sign of diplomatic failure on the part of Ministry of External Affairs.
The Senate voted 52-42 to confirm Garcetti, 52, whose nomination process was dragged out after his onetime right-hand man Rick Jacobs was accused of sexual assault, harassment, and making racist remarks. Garcetti had already passed a key Senate test vote held hours before by the same margin.
Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Steve Daines of Montana, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Todd Young of Indiana, and Susan Collins of Maine voted to confirm Garcetti.
“For more than two years, the Biden Administration and Senate Democrats have failed to get a Senate-confirmed Ambassador to India — the world’s largest democracy, a rising economic power, and one of our most important strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific,” Hagerty said in a statement. “As a former US Ambassador to Japan, I know firsthand that this is a critical US diplomatic position. Our relations with India are vital to our strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific.”
