Headlines
Jaishankar takes over as foreign secretary, Congress questions change
New Delhi, Jan 29
S. Jaishankar, India's envoy
to the US who was seen as having played a catalytic role in the
turnaround in bilateral ties, Thursday assumed charge as India's foreign
secretary. The Congress, however, questioned the government decision to
"curtail the tenure" of his predecessor Sujatha Singh and demanded an
explanation for the abrupt change.
The government Wednesday night
appointed Jaishankar, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1977
batch, as the new foreign secretary. The cabinet's Appointments
Committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to "curtail
the tenure" of singh "with immediate effect".
The surprise
announcement came a day after US President Barack Obama wound up his
three-day state visit during which India and the US saw a breakthrough
announcement on the stalled civil nuclear deal.
The Congress
questioned the government's decision, linking it to the visit of the US
president and Singh's stand on the Devyani Khobragade issue.
"Foreign
secretary is head of foreign services... before you start
gerrymandering with seniority and fixed tenure, you need to very
categorically explain as to what is the reason doing so," Congress
leader Manish Tewari told IANS.
"The decision coming as it does
two days after the US president's visit... Is there a linkage between
the stand which Sujatha Singh took on the Devyani matter and this is a
belated retribution?" he said.
In December 2013, Khobragade,
India's then deputy consul general in New York, was charged by US
authorities with committing visa fraud and providing false statements in
order to gain entry to the US for Sangeeta Richard, a woman of Indian
nationality, for employment as a domestic worker for Khobragade in New
York.
The diplomat was arrested the following day by US federal
law enforcement authorities. The Indian government took up the issue
strongly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, retorted that it is within the government's right to take decisions on appointments.
"I
don't see any reason for hue and cry. A government is within its rights
to decide how it would like to appoint what officers and with what
responsibilities. And this is not the first time..... Preceding
governments have taken (such) decisions," BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli
said.
Taking up his new job at South Block, where the ministry of
external affairs is housed, Jaishankar said: "My priorities are the
government's priorities."
He is known to have developed a close rapport with Prime Minister Modi who was impressed by his abilities to get things done.
Jaishankar,
who was to have retired from the diplomatic service on Jan 31, said he
was "honoured" to be given the responsibility. Sujatha Singh was not
present at his takeover event. Jaishankar later met External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj.
As India's ambassador to the US, he
played a key role in bridging the widening gulf in relations between the
US and India after he took over in December 2013, especially in the
wake of Khobragade's arrest in New York over her maid's immigration
status, and also played a major role in arranging Modi's hitch-free,
high-profile visit to the US last September, officials said.
Jaishankar
was one of the key officers who negotiated the nuclear deal with the US
as joint secretary (Americas) from 2004 to 2007 in the ministry. He was
previously the envoy to China before moving as envoy to the US. He had
also been posted as ambassador to Singapore and the Czech Republic, and
did stints in Sri Lanka and Russia.