Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY)

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is in all probability going to succeed Republican Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) in Jan. 2005, as Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans. However, the transition is going to take place in early January.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman (NY) has been unanimously elected by Democrats and taken over this week as co-chair of the Caucus from Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY).

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)

Ackerman is a known-quantity having proven himself over the years as a strong supporter of legislation favorable to India whereas Ros-Lehtinen is an unknown quantity so far.

This will be Ackerman;s second stint at the Caucus where he served earlier between 1998 and 2000, leaving an unbeaten legacy including earlier this year when he introduced legislation requiring the CIA director to report to Congress on Pakistani proliferation activities. The measure was adopted by the full House as an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act. Now he expects to handle the newest White House decision to sell high tech military goodies to Islamabad.

On the other hand, less is known of initiatives, if any, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen might have taken vis-à-vis India, other than some letters castigating that country for violating the rights of its religious minorities. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen who is on the House International Relations Committee where she Chairs the Subcommittee on Middle East and Central Asia, and on the House Government Reform Committee where she is on the Human Rights and Wellness Subcommittee, chaired by none other than old India-foe Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana.

According to Dino Teppara, legislative assistant to Rep. Wilson, the Congressman is going to be holding the fort as Chair of the biggest Caucus in Congress until this January and will fulfill all official duties until then.

“He has to give up his chairmanship and in fact wants to because he wants someone else to continue the work he has been doing,” Teppara said. “Right now Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen is the front-runner though others also expressed interest,” he noted. Republican Congressman Tom Foley of Florida and earlier than that Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Michigan) were among those that had in the past expressed interest in co-chairing the Caucus, but Teppara says it will most probably be Ros-Lehtinen.

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen was among several legislators including Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, to sign a Sept. 12, 2000, letter initiated by New York Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, to then President Bill Clinton calling for end to atrocities of religious minorities in India. However, during President Bush’s first term in the White House, she has made pro-India statements and been courted by some Indian-American organizations and leading Republican Indian Americans who held fund-raisers for her reelection campaign.

At one event in 2003, she said India had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in the trying times after 9/11 and that India could be an important defense and trade ally.