New Delhi: There will be a delay of two days in new defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman taking charge of the new portfolio. Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who was holding additional charge of defence before the reshuffle, is in Japan for attending a security dialogue and she will have to wait till he returns and hands over charge.

“Normally, the new defence minister should have been going but logistically that doesn’t seem possible today... to make the changes,” Mr Jaitley said.

“And it is a very important security dialogue between the two countries, particularly on the eve of Japanese PM’s visit,” Mr Jaitley said.

“I will continue for the next two days and participate. Sitharaman will take charge of the ministry as soon as the dialogue ends,” he said.