HILLARY PICKS KAINE FOR V-P
ANNOUNCES VIRGINIA SENATOR AS RUNNING MATE
WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has picked Senator Tim Kaine, a strong supporter of India-US ties, as her running mate, her campaign announced on Friday.
Kaine, 58, is a first-time senator from Virginia, a swing state that can potentially vote Democratic or Republican and will thus play a critical role in determing the outcome of the presidential election.
The line-up for the 2016 presidential race is now complete — Clinton and Kaine on the Democratic ticket facing Republican Donald Trump and his VP pick Mike Pence.
Clinton announced her pick in a tweet late on Friday evening: “I’m thrilled to announce my running mate, @TimKaine, a man who’s devoted his life to fighting for others. -H”
Though called boring compared to some of the others on Clinton’s shortlist, Kaine is a popular senator of a crucial state, and, as was pointed out by the nominee, he has never lost an election.
He is a deeply religious Roman Catholic and is personally against abortion and capital punishment but did not allow that to influence his actions and decisions as an elected official.
Kaine visited India in October 2014 — Delhi and Mumbai — as chairman of a senate foreign relations sub-committee.
Just weeks before in June, Kaine joined three other senators to move a resolution highlighting India-US ties.
The resolution,which passed, also called for inviting newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just a few days in office then, to address the US Congress at the earliest.
“This resolution sends a strong signal about the importance of the US-India Strategic Partnership and the bipartisan support the relationship enjoys on Capitol Hill,” Kaine said in a statement.
Modi finally addressed the US Congress on his fourth visit here as prime minister in June 2016, but the 2014 call by the bipartisan group of senators was significant given the context.
Modi had been denied a visa to visit the US in 2005 — as chief minister of Gujarat then — under a law passed by the Congress sanctioning world leaders for alleged religious persecution.
But Kaine has also been critical of India’s handling of religious freedom, telling a state department official at a senate hearing it was “really important one (as an issue) for us to stay upon”.