Asian Indians take seats on Dem. executive board Parag Patel and Ajay Patel to hold postswithin the party BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer EDISON - The influence of the Asian Indian community began to exert itself on township politics this week with the historic placement of two Asian Indians on the Edison Democratic Committee's executive board. Former Councilman Parag Patel has been appointed as the committee's legal adviser and first-time committeeman, Ajay Patel (no relation) has become the second vice chairman. The two were appointed during the committee's reorganization meeting on June 11 when Mayor Jun Choi unsuccessfully challenged longtime Chairman Thomas "Doc" Paterniti for the chairmanship. Parag Patel has a history with Edison politics having served as council president in the past and is a co-founder of the Indo-American Caucus, a group meant to represent the Asian Indian community in the Edison Democratic Party. Satish Poondi, co-founder of the caucus with Parag Patel, said that the inclusion of the two Asian Indian men on the executive board was a sign of the Democratic Party's desire to have a "greater level of involvement" from a growing portion of the population, in the political process. He said that in the last two weeks the Asian Indian community has seen two members put on the executive board, one made a council candidate and the formation of a caucus. He said it also shows the Asian Indian community has become much more energized. "The community, that has always been involved," Poondi said, "is much more energetic and much more genuinely at the forefront." Poondi said the confluence of the community's representation in Edison politics is "a gigantic step." "It's not just any step, it's a gigantic step," Poondi said. "What we're seeing is the ability of the Indian community to come into the mainstream of the political process. Being on the executive board is a symbol of how far we've come into the mainstream process." Poondi said that it was important that the community steer away from the former lobbyist role and embrace their place in the mainstream process. Poondi said there is not a large difference between the issues the Asian Indian community care about and the rest of the political community cares about. He cited property taxes and strong schools as examples of how the two communities are symmetrical. There are, he said, niche issues such as better representation in the school system that the Asian Indian influence could help create. Poondi does not expect the assimilation process to be entirely smooth sailing, however. He said dealing with individuals, there will always be disagreements, but the important thing is to have involvement, no matter which side the members of the community fall on. "When you have such an amount of involvement in such a short period of time, there's definitely going to be growing pains," Poondi said. "Nothing comes smoothly." Neither of the Patels nor Paterniti could be reached for comment on this story.