Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is putting up a concertedchallenge to front runner Boris Johnson in the ongoing election for the nextConservative leader and prime minister, says he will accord the highest priorityto relations with India.

Over 1.6 lakh Conservative members are currently voting bypostal ballots for the two candidates. The result will be declared on July 23and the next party leader will succeed Theresa May as the prime minister on thenext day.As Johnson, 55, and Hunt, 52, addressed live televised hustings acrossthe UK, focusing mainly on their approach to Brexit, Hunt sent a letter tomembers of the Conservative Friends of India, a group within the party, as wellas a video message.

Seeking support from Indian-origin members of theConservative party, Hunt recalled his five-month-long backpacking trip to Indiayears ago. One of memories of the visit, he recently revealed, was enjoying‘bhang lassi’.He said in the video message: “I want you to know that friendshipbetween India and the United Kingdom will be one of my highest priorities asprime minister”.“The great thing about this country is that we have such stronglinks all over the world but none is more important than India, the countrythat will soon have the largest population in the world, is a beacon oftolerance and diversity across the world.”Looking to the future, Hunt wrote inthe letter: “I look forward to engaging with India to negotiate a free tradeagreement following Britain’s exit from the European Union later this year.Given the closeness of the two countries, I hope and expect that we will beable to agree on this very soon”.