Chirinjeev Kathuria, second from left, with Alan Keyes, right, when Keyes declared his candidacy for Senate from Illinois. (Photo: Courtesy, Chirinjeev Kathuria)

Even as the Republican Party announced it had selected African-American Congressman Alan Keyes of Maryland to run for the Senate seat from Illinois, the GOP encouraged Chirinjeev Kathuria, a serial entrepreneur from Chicago, to remain in politics and run for other seatsng up in the State.

Keyes, whose wife Jocelyn Marcel is of Indian origin whom he met in Mumbai when he was Vice Consul, was the sudden choice of the Republicans against the strong rising star of the Democratic Party, also an African American of Kenyan origin, Barack Obama, who is expected to win the election and gain a critical seat that will get the Democrats closer to a majority in the Senate.

Kathuria told News India-Times that the Republican Party had vetted each candidate including him and had also interviewed him, before they chose Keyes for the race.

“He’s a nice guy. I was standing right next to him when he announced his candidacy in Arlington Heights, Chicago,” Kathuria said. “It was courageous for the Republican Party to take an African-American candidate and it shows they are realizing the demographic changes happening in Illinois, and that to win you have to have a minority involved. Our message throughout the primaries was ‘You have to have a minority candidate.’ In a way, our message really got out to the Republican Party.”

Kathuria said the Republican Central Committee called several candidates on Aug. 10. “We went through an interview process, and they narrowed it down. They interviewed me as well. That’s when they selected Keyes.”

Asked whether he was still considering his race for Congress from Chicago, Kathuria said he would be running for some office or the other. “I am definitely not planning to get out of politics. I don’t know if the bug has bitten me, but I think it’s something good that we need to do and it’s good for Indian Americans to be involved in politics. Now I am going to start thinking about the House run. I had put it off till the Senate thing was decided. I am going to look at the Congressional seat or running for Lieutenant Governor. The Governor and Lt. Governor primaries are a year away.”

Keyes has twice made unsuccessful runs for Senate from Maryland (1988 and 1992) and twice run for U.S. President (1996 and 2000). He spent 11 years with the State Department, and served in the Foreign Service and on the staff of the National Security Council before becoming President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, where he represented the interests of the U.S. in the U.N. General Assembly (1983-85). In 1985, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations (1985-88).

Through the 1990s, he hosted his own syndicated radio show, ‘America’s Wake-Up Call,’ and a television commentary show, ‘Alan Keyes is Making Sense,’ during 2002 on MSNBC.

A Ph.D. from Harvard, Keyes is expected to counter some of the overwhelming support Obama has got in Illinois. Obama is also a Harvard graduate, and both candidates are excellent orators, except that Keyes is a confirmed conservative on abortion and against preferential affirmative action, and against gay marriage. He speaks French and Spanish and some Russian, and is the author of ‘Masters of the Dream: The Strength and Betrayal of Black America’ (1995); and ‘Our Character, Our Future: Reclaiming America’s Moral Destiny’ (1996).

He and Jocelyn have three children, Francis, Maya, and Andrew. Keyes met Jocelyn at the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai when she came to get a tourist visa. She has been the reason many Indian Americans support Keyes.

Friends of Keyes told the Insight Magazine in 2000 that for Keyes it was “love at first sight” when he saw Jocelyn. After that he was flying overseas to court her and they were married in a big traditional Roman Catholic wedding in India.

“I understand why they picked Keyes with all his background,” said Kathuria, who had not been in politics until this year. “The Republican Party told me –– people like Judy Topinka, chair of Illinois Republican Party; and Gary Skoien, Cook County Republican Chair; and many other –– ‘You definitely have a future in Illinois and could either run for Congress or for Lt. Governor and that this time the Party would be behind you’.”

Keyes, who criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for moving to New York in order to make a run for Senate, has claimed his case is different. He justified his choice saying, “She used the state of New York as a platform for her own personal ambition... I had no thought of coming to Illinois to run until the people here in the state party decided there was a need. Just as people faced with a flood, or people in the case of 9/11, would call on folks, firefighters and others to help them deal with the crisis that they were faced with.”