Mitt Romney's policies would be beneficial for Indo-US ties: Sampat Shivangi

TAMPA (FLORIDA): India's ties with the US would be much better if Mitt Romney is elected US President, feel three Indian-American Republican delegates who attended the party's national convention here.

Referring to the Republican Platform - which for the first time declared India as "geopolitical ally" of the US - the three Indian American delegates assured that the Romney Administration would take the relationship between the two largest democracies of the world to a new level.

"Romney is very positive (on India). He was instrumental in declaring India a geopolitical ally in the Republican Party platform which was adopted by the convention on Tuesday," Sampat Shivangi, a delegate from Mississippi, said after the convention was over.

"This clearly marks a new beginning for the India-US relationship."

"This is for the first time that the Republican Party Platform says that India is a strategic ally of the US, which was never said by any president or the parties - either Democratic or Republican. This is a very big plus for India," Shivangi said.

Iowa delegate Gopal T K Krishna, who was a member of the foreign policy sub-committee that incorporated India specific language in the platform, said the economic policies envisaged by Romney in his speech would not only create jobs in the US, but also in India.

Anil Mathai, the third Indian American elected delegate coming from the state of Iowa said, "His speech confirms that America's allies, like India, will have a stronger more secure friendship based on mutual trust: which will benefit India greatly.