Sitharaman to take charge of Defence after Jaitley visit to Japan

New Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to take charge of her ministry after a couple of days, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was holding additional charge of Defence, will be traveling to Japan on Sunday for a bilateral dialogue.

Jaitley, who took additional charge of defence after Manohar Parrikar returned to Goa to take over as the Chief Minister, is leaving on Sunday night for Japan, where he will hold a bilateral dialogue with his Japanese counterpart, ahead of a visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India later this month.

"I leave tonight for Japan, and normally the new Defence Minister should have been going. But logistically that doesn't seem possible today being a Sunday," Jaitley told reporters.

"It is a very important security dialogue between the two countries ahead of the Japanese Prime Minister's visit and therefore changes are not advisable. I will continue for next two days to complete the dialogue, and Ms. Sitharaman will take the charge as soon as the dialogue ends," he said.

--IANS

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