Union Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The former diplomat was elected to the Upper House of Parliament from Gujarat in bye-elections held for two seats on Friday.
Jaishankar was a surprise pick in the Cabinet of ministers named by Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon his re-election in May. On June 24, he was inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party, and hours later, the party named him its candidate for a Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat.
The other spot that was vacant in Gujarat was won by Jugal Thakore. Jaishankar and Thakore will take seats vacated by the election of BJP leaders Amit Shah and Smriti Irani to the Lok Sabha. Shah and Irani are also part of the Cabinet. Shah was present in the House when Jaishankar was sworn in.
Jaishankar was India’s foreign secretary from January 2015 to January 2018. He was a key member of the Indian team that negotiated the nuclear deal with the United States in 2007 during the tenure of the Manmohan Singh government. He has served as India’s ambassador to China and the United States.
The 1977-batch Indian Foreign Service officer was also India’s high commissioner to Singapore and envoy to the Czech Republic. Earlier this year, Jaishankar was conferred the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the country.
Last year, Tata Sons appointed Jaishankar its president of global corporate affairs, three months after his term as foreign secretary had ended. Jaishankar is an MA in Political Science and an MPhil and PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
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