Donald Trump in, Richard Verma to bow out

New Delhi: With the Trump administration set to take office on January 20, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma is likely to put in his papers and demit office by then. Mr Verma is a political appointee of the Obama administration and not a career diplomat.

Sources indicated that it is the convention for political appointees to offer their resignation once a new administration is in place. Usually, the new administration accepts the resignation or may ask an envoy to continue for another six months in case there is no immediate replacement.

Around noon on November 9, when it became clear that Republican presidential candidate (and now President-elect) Donald Trump was winning the election, Mr Verma had said the US was “pretty divided” during the “impassioned” campaign and that the new President would have to “bring the country together”. Even as a visibly grim Mr Verma looked on, the mood in the US Embassy premises for many had become distinctly sombre during the counting process when Mr Trump began surging ahead, with some of the women there sobbing after Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was defeated.

Mr Verma, who is of Indian origin, had worked closely with Hillary Clinton when she was serving as the Secretary of State during Mr Obama’s tenure.

“The ties that bind our two countries together are built on our shared democratic values, and go beyond the friendship of the American President and the Indian Prime Minister. They go beyond the economic and people-to-people ties. The US-India relationship is vitally important, it is bipartisan, and it is only growing stronger. Here’s to another four years of robust US-India ‘dosti’ (friendship),” Mr. Verma had said soon after the electoral verdict.

Mr Verma is serving as the 25th US Ambassador to India. He was nominated by President Obama on September 18, 2014, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn in by Secretary of State John Kerry in December 2014. The US diplomatic presence in India comprises “one of the largest U.S. Missions in the world, including four consulates across India and nearly every agency of the U.S. government”.

As a “former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in the Obama Administration, he had led the State Department’s efforts on Capitol Hill and served as a senior member of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s team”.

According to the US Government, Ambassador Verma earlier has had a distinguished career in the private sector, serving as partner at the global law firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, and as Senior Counsellor to the Albright Stonebridge Group. His practice had focused on international law and regulatory issues, with a specialisation in Asia and emerging markets. He is also the recipient of the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award.