'Was very much part of decision to appoint Jaishankar': Sushma Swaraj

Stating that she was very much a part of the decision to appoint S Jaishankar as the new Foreign Secretary, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the abrupt appointment took place since the former was retiring on January 31.

"I was very much a part of the decision to appoint Dr. Jaishankar as Foreign Secretary. Since Dr. Jaishankar was retiring on January 31, we had to issue orders of his appointment before that date," Sushma said in a series of tweets today.

She added that she had personally spoken to former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and told her that the Government wanted to appoint Dr. Jaishankar as Foreign Secretary.

However, Singh, in a letter written yesterday to her IFS colleagues, said she had sought early retirement from government service.

The 1976 batch Indian Foreign Service officer was replaced by S. Jaishankar in a surprise decision late last night, taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.