McDermott last co-chaired the Caucus from 2000-2002 and Wilson from 2002-2004. They will succeed Representatives Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat and Ileana Ros Lehtinen, Florida Republican.
Ackerman, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has also been elected to chair the foreign affairs subcommittee on South Asia, while Ros-Lehtinen has moved up to become the senior most and ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the wake of the surprising defeat of the ranking GOP member of the panel, Jim Leach of Iowa, who was among those who bit the dust as the Democrats took control of both the House and Senate.
Although McDermott's election as the new Democrat co-chair is a formality and will be confirmed in the Democratic Party retreat this week, he told rediff.com "it's always too soon to congratulate yourself. There will be an election on Monday evening and I am hopeful that I will be elected chair."
Interestingly, much to the chagrin of the pro-India lobby and the Indian American community, McDermott, who has visited India at least 20 times -- and holds the record for the highest number of visit to India by a US lawmaker -- voted against the enabling legislation to facilitate the US-India civilian nuclear agreement that was signed into law December 18 by President George W Bush.
McDermott told rediff.com that his vote was a protest vote against the President and not in any way should be construed as a vote against India. "It had everything to do really with internal politics in the United States rather than anything about India," he said.
"The Indians have been rather exemplary in their handling of nuclear weapons and for that reason, I wasn't troubled by it, but I didn't like the way the Administration acted," McDermott said.
Wilson's chief of staff Dino Teppara told rediff.com that his boss had of his own volition expressed a desire to be the GOP co-chair of the Caucus again and the Republican members of the Caucus had unanimously endorsed his candidacy.
"He is 100 per cent dedicated to the Indian American community and to support the US-India relationship and his track record over the last five years clearly shows that he is one of the strongest supporters of this relationship in the House," Teppara said.