US House Republicans on Wednesday selected Roy Blunt of Missouri as the party's majority leader in the House, a position vacated temporarily by embattled Tom DeLay after being indicted in a campaign finance probe earlier in the day.

Blunt was currently the Republican whip, the No. 3 figure in the party's leadership in the House of Representatives, following House Speaker Dennis Hastert and DeLay.

David Dreier of California, chairman of the House Rules Committee, and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the chief deputy whip, would assist Blunt with some of the majority leader duties, according to Republican lawmakers.

DeLay and two of his political associates were indicated by a grand jury in his home state of Texas on Wednesday with one count of criminal conspiracy, which involved a campaign finance scheme.

The indictment accused DeLay and the two associates of a conspiracy to convert 190,000 dollars in corporate money into individual campaign contributions to avoid campaign finance restrictions, which violated Texas law.

If found guilty, DeLay, 58, could face a jail term between six months and two years and a fine of 10,000 US dollars.

Source: Xinhua