External Affairs Minister Jaishankar formally joins BJP

New Delhi, June 24: External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday formally joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of working president J P Nadda at Parliament House.

He is also probably the first bureaucrat who has become a cabinet minister so soon after retirement.

The 1977 batch officer has served in various capacities in the External Affairs Ministry and as India's envoy in key countries like the US and China.

He was the Foreign Secretary from January 2015 to January 2018 and played a key role in shaping Modi's foreign policy during his first term, which saw a significant growth and expansion of India's ties with key countries, particularly the US and the Arab nations.

Jaishankar, considered an expert on China and the US, was a key member of the Indian team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. The deal, initiated in 2005, took several years to craft, and was signed by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh in 2007.