Headlines
Jaishankar takes over as foreign secretary, Sushma says was in loop
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 foreign
secretary, a day after the government in a late-night announcement
"curtailed" the two-year tenure of incumbent Sujatha Singh seven months
before her term was to end.
Jaishankar, who took charge in the
morning at South Block, where the ministry of external affairs is
housed, later met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Sushma
Swaraj, in a surprise set of tweets in the evening, said she was in the
loop about the move to replace Singh and had in fact spoken to her.
"Since
Dr.Jaishankar was retiring on 31st January, we had to issue orders of
his appointment before that date. Then I spoke to Ms Sujatha Singh
personally. I told her that the Government wanted to appoint
Dr.Jaishankar as Foreign Secretary," she tweeted.
There had been
speculation on social media and in news reports that Sushma Swaraj had
been kept in the dark about the move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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 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.
Jaishankar, who was to have retired Jan 31, said he was "honoured" to be given the responsibility.
Taking
over his new job at South Block, Jaishankar, who is known to have
developed a close rapport with Modi who was impressed by his abilities
to get things done, said: "My priorities are the government's
priorities."
Sujatha Singh was not present at his takeover event.
In
her farewell email to colleagues in the ministry, she said the foreign
secretary plays a "critical role in being main point of interface with
political leadership". "No individual is larger than institution. It has
to be about institutions and how institutions interface," she added.
The
Congress meanwhile questioned the government's decision, linking it to
Obama's visit 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 domestic worker for Khobragade there.
The
diplomat was arrested and strip searched 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.
Jaishankar, as India's ambassador to the US, 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. He also played a major role in arranging Modi's
hitch-free, high-profile visit to the US last September, officials said.
He
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 to the US. He had also
been posted as ambassador to Singapore and the Czech Republic, and did
stints in Sri Lanka and Russia.