S Jaishankar: Surprise pick in Modi’s Cabinet

New Delhi: In a surprise development, former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar was appointed as a Union Cabinet minister on Thursday.

Mr Jaishankar has always enjoyed the confidence of the Modi Government and was appointed Foreign Secretary in January, 2015, due which the tenure of then Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh was abruptly cut short.

Joining the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer in 1977, Mr Jaishankar rose to the very top, serving as foreign secretary for three years till his retirement in January 2018.

Son of the late K. Subrahmanyam, one of India’s leading strategic analysts, Mr Jaishankar had served as Amba-ssador to both China and the United States. Mr Jaishankar, during his posting earlier in the Americas Division in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi had played a crucial role in the inking of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal of 2008.  He later became envoy to the US in 2013.

Before becoming Ambassador to the US, Mr. Jaishankar had served as Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2013. The expertise gained during that stint served him in good stead when he handled the Sino-Indian Doklam military stand-off crisis in 2017 when he was foreign secretary then.

The appointment of Mr Jaishankar as a Cabinet minister has triggered speculation on whether he will be allocated the external affairs portfolio in view of the fact that Ms. Sushma Swaraj is no longer member of the Union Cabinet.

After his retirement, he had joined the Tata Group as head of its global corporate affairs wing. He was also awarded the civilian honour Padma Shri earlier this year.