New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of party working president J P Nadda.
Jaishankar is regarded as one of a close aide of Prime Minister Modi and was also hailed as his ‘crisis manager’ in matters of foreign affairs.
Jaishankar, a career diplomat and a former foreign secretary, was inducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his government as external affairs minister.
He was sworn in as a Cabinet minister along with other members of the government on May 30.
In 2008, he was a member of the team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal under the UPA government headed by then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The BJP is likely to field him from Gujarat as its Rajya Sabha candidate.
He has to be a Member of Parliament within six months of his swearing in.
(With inputs from agencies)