Post Devyani indictment, White House insists Indo-US ties 'extremely important'

Washington: Describing America’s relationship with India as an “extremely important” one, the White House today said that President Barack Obama believes strongly that ties need to continue and must be further cemented. “This is an extremely important relationship and that has many aspects to it and cultural ties, political ties, economic ties. And the president believes strongly that we need to continue to build on that relationship,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at a news conference. [caption id=“attachment_1332585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Devyani Khobragade. PTI image[/caption] “He (Obama) worked very hard on US-India relations in his first term, and will continue to do so in his second term,” Carney said in response to a question on India-US relationship amidst strained ties following the arrest of a senior Indian diplomat in New York last month. “I don’t have anything more specific for you with regards to some of the issues that have come up in the last month,” he said. “You know, it’s an extremely important relationship and, you know, I haven’t had that conversation with him yet. I know he’s updated on developments on the issues surrounding the relationship but I haven’t spoken to him about it,” Carney said. “The president is obviously a consumer of the news as well as recipient of many briefings, so I can say with great confidence that he is following these developments, but I don’t have a position or view to express from the presidential level on those developments,” Carney said. However, the presidential spokesperson did not gave any indication of the White House position on the current bilateral spat between the world’s two largest democracies after the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York last month. He directed all questions related to the arrest to the state department. “Well, I think the state department is engaged and I know that they have addressed this in briefings by my colleague Jen Psaki and others, Marie Harf and others. So I would point you to what they’ve said about it,” he said. Yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry met Obama at the White House which the officials described as a routine meeting on foreign policy meetings. “I don’t know if we get a readout of that. It’s a regular meeting the president has. So I just don’t know the answer to that,” he said when asked if India was discussed between Obama and Kerry. PTI