India
The sacking of Sujatha Singh from the post of Foreign Secretary has come under criticism from Congress.
Updated : Jan 29, 2015, 09:31 PM IST
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said she had personally communicated to Sujatha Singh the government's decision to appoint S Jaishankar as the new Foreign Secretary.
Swaraj's comment came in the backdrop of reports that she was not in the loop over government's decision to abruptly "curtail" Singh's tenure nearly seven months before it was to end.
Then I spoke to Ms Sujatha Singh personally.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 29, 2015
I told her that the Government wanted to appoint Dr.Jaishankar as Foreign Secretary.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 29, 2015
Since Dr.Jaishankar was retiring on 31st January, we had to issue orders of his appointment before that date.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 29, 2015
Jaishankar, Ambassador to the US, was appointed last night as the new Foreign Secretary in a surprise decision by the Union Cabinet's Appointment Committee, which is headed by the Prime Minister. The 1977-batch IFS officer who had only two days to go for his retirement will have a two-year tenure as per the rules. The sacking of Singh has come under criticism from Congress.