S Jaishankar, India's ambassador
to the US, has been appointed the foreign secretary of India. The opposition
parties are questioning the timing of his appointment as he replaces Sujatha
Singh, who had six more months to complete her tenure.
"I am really honored to have
been given this big responsibility. My priorities are the same as the
government's priorities," said the newly appointed foreign secretary.
Dr Jaishankar’s appointment was
announced after a meeting of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired
by the PM himself, was held last evening.
An official statement said that
the services of Ms Singh have been curtailed with immediate effect; she took
office in August 2013. Sujatha was only the third foreign secretary in Indian
history. The news of the appointment of
Jaishankar came just a day after the Obama visit was concluded. The three-day visit of the US President to
India saw the nuclear deal go through, that was stuck for some time now.
Before becoming the US ambassador,
Jaishankar was India's longest serving ambassador to China.
Media sources say that the
foreign minister Sushma Swaraj wanted Sujatha to complete her tenure but PM
Modi was keen to get the man on board as soon as possible.
Questions are being raised by the
opposition. "If the PM was unhappy with the foreign secretary, why didn't
he ask her to go nine months ago. The timing is questionable. Why wait for the
presidential visit to end? Did something happen during the visit? The PM needs
to explain," said senior Congress leader Manish Tiwari.
Jaishankar, 60, is a 1977 batch
officer of the IFS. He is said to be the choice of former PM Manmohan Singh to
replace Ranjan Mathai as Foreign Secretary in 2013. That, somehow, could not
materialize, and he appointed Sujatha Singh on the basis of seniority.
S Jaishankar happens to be the
son of K Subrahmanyam, one of India's leading strategic analysts who played a
major role in the nuclear deal with the US in 2008.
Also Read:
No comments:
Post a Comment