Ex-foreign secy Jaishankar made cabinet minister

NEW DELHI: Former foreign secretary S Jaishankar Thursday became a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers. PM Modi, after his stupendous victory in the Lok Sabha elections, took oath with his council of ministers at a grand ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Jaishankar was the country's longest-serving foreign secretary in four decades and helped craft much of PM Modi's foreign policy. He was appointed in January 2015, just a few days before his retirement, replacing Sujata Singh, whose term was abruptly cut short by the government.

A former ambassador to China, Jaishankar had played a key role in resolving the crisis following the incursion in Ladakh's Depsang and the Doklam stand-off, handling the tough negotiations with Beijing.

He was also a key member of the team that worked on the nuclear deal with the US. The deal, initiated in 2005, took several years to craft and was signed by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh in 2007.