Nirmala Sitharaman an extremely competent successor: Jaitley

Describing newly-appointed Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as 'extremely competent', Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday extended his greetings to his successor.

"Very significant landmark in this reshuffle is that we now have Nirmala Sitharaman as the new Defence Minister. It is a case where a minister performs well and earns a higher responsibility for herself (Nirmala Sitharaman). I am sure, now that I have an extremely competent successor in Nirmala Sitharaman, she will carry the road forward," Jaitley said.

The Union Finance Minister added that he would be leaving for Japan tonight to attend the annual defence ministerial meeting and would continue to hold the security dialogue for the next two days, post which Sitharaman would take the charge.

Appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley said, "PM Modi has set the bar very high. It's clear that he is very closely monitoring performance of each ministry and individual."

Calling Sitharaman's appointment as a well thought decision, Manohar Parrikar said, "Nirmala is very analytical, deep thinking, hard working and very knowledgeable."

PTI