New Delhi, June 24 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday formally joined the BJP in the presence of party working president JP Nadda. Dr Jaishankar was inducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Cabinet as External Affairs Minister and was sworn in as minister on May 30.
Sources said that the BJP may nominate him from Gujarat as its Rajya Sabha candidate. It is to be noted that Dr Jaishankar must become a Member of Parliament within six months of his swearing in. Jaishankar was foreign secretary when Sushma Swaraj was External Affairs Minister during PM Modi’s first term. He is considered to be very close to the prime minister. Jaishankar worked closely with PM Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in giving a new shape to India’s foreign policy after PM Modi came to power in 2014. Experts say just like PM Modi, Jaishankar too is unorthodox in his approach towards foreign policies.
Jaishankar is an IFS officer of the 1977 batch and he has very good experience in nuclear diplomacy. His expertise in dealing with the US and China is also seen as one of the main reasons behind his elevation to the crucial posts. It may be recalled that Jaishankar had played a crucial role in negotiating the India-US civil nuclear deal in 2008 when Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.
Jaishankar has done his graduation from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and he has completed his master’s degree in political science and an MPhil and PhD in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
