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PARAG MEHTA FROM TEXAS IN OBAMA'S TRANSITION TEAM
Parag Mehta , son of Dr. Vijay and Vandana Mehta of City of Temple, Texas gets the rare honor of becoming a part of President Elect Barak Obama's trasition team. Yet another young Indian American Democratic Party activist has been named for United States President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. Parag Mehta, 31, has been named the deputy director of inter-governmental affairs and public liaison of the Obama-Biden transition team, charged with out-reach to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other minority groups. His appointment follows close on the heels of the appointments of two Indian Americans -- Sonal Shah, who was named as member of the 15-member official transition board and Nick Rathod, who was named director of the transition team's office of inter-governmental affairs.

The Worcester, Massachusetts-born Mehta said that he was 'absolutely thrilled and excited' to join the Obama-Biden transition team, which could be a springboard to a position in the Obama administration. In an earlier interview, when he was appointed director of external communications for the DNC, Mehta, a passionate and avowed Democrat, said, "My family is in this country because of the Democratic Party -- from Robert Kennedy to Barack Obama, it is the Democrats who stood up for the values of fairness, fiscal responsibility and an approach to foreign policy that tries to lead by our principles, rather than rule by chest-thumping."

On the involvement of Indian Americans, particularly the second generation, he said, "It's amazing to see how many Indian Americans are working in campaigns. We used to get together in small groups after work to commiserate about being brown kids in politics. Now there are so many of us that we have to pull tables together in the Congressional cafeteria just to fit everyone who shows up."

Mehta, who was valedictorian of Temple High School, class of 1994. He received his bachelor in Liberal Arts Honors (Plan II) from the University of Texas at Austin and Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. His father, Dr Vijay A Mehta, served Central Texas VA for 28 years, is a general surgeon who hails from Jamnagar in India and his mother, Dr Vinoo V Mehta, is a physician at Waco VA Hospital, was raised in Mumbai. Mehta has two siblings, an older sister, Ami Buddin, a nurse in Pensacola, Florida and a younger brother, Chirag Mehta, a student in Temple, Texas. Let us all wish him the best. Courtsey  Dr.Sulekh Jain, Houston, Texas, USA,