Here's how US VP nominee's wife Usha Chilukuri is connected to Vizag's Shantamma

Visakhapatnam: Usha Chilukuri Vance is the talk of the town in the US ahead of the presidential elections, but she hails from a nondescript Andhra Pradesh village and a distant relative here wants her to remember her Godavari roots and contribute to India in whatever possible way.

Wife of JD Vance, Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate for the forthcoming 2024 US presidential elections, her origins are from a village in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district, her relative said. Usha, 38, would be the possible first Indian American second lady, if Trump and Vance win the November 5 general elections against incumbent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

C Shantamma, a 96-year-old Vizag-based physics professor, who never met or spoke to Usha is hogging the limelight by virtue of being a distant relative.

"I am related to Usha through my husband (C Subramanya Sastry). She is the granddaughter of my brother-in-law who worked as an IIT professor," Shantamma told a vernacular news channel on Wednesday.

Subramanya Sastry's oldest brother, C Rama Sastry, is Usha's grandfather. Her parents, C Radhakrishna and Lakshmi, immigrated to the US around 1980.

According to the nonagenarian, who still teaches physics as an emeritus professor at a private varsity in Vizianagaram, Usha's family belonged to Vadduru village near Tanuku town in lush green West Godavari district.

She was delighted over Usha emerging as the spouse of a US vice presidential candidate from the Republican party, and conveyed her heartiest congratulations to the accomplished lawyer.

"I consider her a very important person. She would have had many powers. Also, she would have endured many difficulties," said Usha's grand aunt, noting JD Vance's contribution and efforts in enabling her success.

Calling Vance a helpful husband, she said the former would have helped Usha a lot in her career with a conducive atmosphere. Further, she called on Usha to remember her Godavari roots and always chip in for India in whichever way possible from her end.

Vance, 39, was formally accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination on the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in US, making him among the youngest Americans to ever fill that role.

Usha and Vance met at Yale Law School where the two were studying. Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants grew up in a San Diego suburb. Friends from her childhood and adolescence described her as a “leader” and a “bookworm.” As of 2014, she was a registered Democrat. She would be the first Hindu spouse of a vice president — and would succeed second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is the first Jewish spouse of a vice president, The New York Post reported.

The Vance couple was married in 2014 in Kentucky and were blessed by a Hindu priest at a different event, according to a New York Times profile. The Vances have three children: sons Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter named Mirabel.

Trump and his running mate Vance will challenge President Joe Biden and his Vice-President Kamala Harris from the Democratic Party in the November 5 presidential election.