S Jaishankar formally joins BJP in presence of J P Nadda

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday formally joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of working president J P Nadda at Parliament House.

India’s new External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar took charge of office on June 2, praising the work done by his predecessor Sushma Swaraj.

“Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji,” the new EAM tweeted.

He also thanked foreign ministers of several countries who had congratulated him on his appointment as EAM.

The former foreign Secretary had on Friday been appointed the EAM, succeeding Sushma Swaraj who had been left out of the Cabinet of the Modi Government in its second term in office.

Jaishankar is the second former Indian Foreign Servi-ce officer to become EAM, the first being K. Natwar Singh who had become EAM in 2004 in the UPA-1 Government. Jai Shankar, however, is definitely the first former foreign secretary to occupy the post of external affairs minister by virtue of which he will be in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) that is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Jaishankar's appointment as External Affairs Minister itself is evidence of Modi's faith in the former diplomat's expertise in the complex arena of external affairs.