Foreign Minister S Jaishankar today formally joined the BJP in the presence of the party working president JP Nadda at Parliament House.
A career diplomat, Dr Jaishankar, a 1977-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, had previously served as Foreign Secretary and was said to be a surprise addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet after the BJP won the national elections again last month.
The BJP is likely to field Dr Jaishankar from Gujarat as its Rajya Sabha candidate. He has to be a Member of Parliament within six months of being sworn in.
Dr Jaishankar is regarded as a close aide of the Prime Minister and was also known as his “crisis manager” on foreign affairs, according to news agency ANI. He served as Foreign Secretary for three years till 2015 during PM Modi’s first term as Prime Minister, until his retirement in 2018.
He was appointed Foreign Secretary in January 2015, replacing Sujata Singh, whose term was abruptly curtailed by the government. After retiring from government service, he was hired by the Tata Group as President of its global corporate affairs.
In March this year, he had received the Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind.
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