Indiaspora inaugural ball to be held in January

An Indian diaspora group will organise an inaugural ball for the 45th President of the US in January to highlight the importance of Indian-American community in American politics.

To be attended by who's who of the community, top US lawmakers and possibly the president elect him/herself, the second presidential ball being organised by Indiaspora on January 18 would signify the emergence of this small but powerful community in a big way, event organisers said yesterday.

"This would be a bipartisan event to celebrate the success and significance of the Indian-American community and to welcome in the new administration," eminent Indian-American investor and philanthropist M R Rangaswami said.

The inaugural presidential ball was held in January 2013.

He hoped that with community support, the second presidential ball might see the attendance of the new president and vice president.

Rangaswami hoped that the general elections would also result in greater representation of the Indian-Americans in the US Congress.

Kamala Harris is all set to become the first Indian- American to be elected as a US Senator.

In addition to incumbent Ami Bera, several other Indian- Americans have a much greater chance of winning the election to the US House of Representatives.

Prominent among them being Raja Krishnamurthy from Chicago, Pramila Jayapal from Washington State and Ro Khanna from the Silicon Valley.

"We hope that after January, Indian-Americans could comprise of one per cent of the members in the Congress," Rangaswami said.

The ball among other things would showcase things that came to the US from India like yoga, Bollywood and even chicken tikka masala.