Taranjit Singh Sandhu, a former Indian ambassador to the US, joined the BJP on Tuesday at the party’s New Delhi headquarters.
Former diplomat said, “In the last 10 years, I have worked closely with PM Modi’s leadership, especially in the relationship with the United States and Sri Lanka…PM Modi is development-focused. Development is very much needed today. This development should reach Amritsar too. So, I thank the party president, the Prime Minister, Home Minister who encouraged me for the new path of service to the nation that I am entering.”
Responding to media after joining the BJP said he that Amritsar will be his sole focus. According to PTI he said, “As I have indicated, foreign policy today is very closely associated with development and I joining BJP also is focused on helping my home city, which is Amritsar. If the party feels that by my contesting, I can help in the development of Amritsar, I certainly will (contest).”
Taranjit Singh Sandhu withdrew from government duty in January of this year after serving as India’s ambassador to the US for a term of six years.
On February 3, 2020, Sandhu took over as US ambassador, succeeding Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Besides serving as India’s High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Sandhu was an Indian Foreign Service officer from the 1988 batch.
After working in the former Soviet Union for more than thirty years, Sandhu had a remarkable career. After the USSR broke apart, he was sent to establish a new embassy in Ukraine.
From July 2005 until February 2009, Sandhu was also assigned to the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York.
He even worked at the Ministry of External Affairs from March 2009 to August 2011 as Joint Secretary (United Nations) and then as Joint Secretary (Administration), where he managed the Human Resource Division. He was the Consul General of India in Frankfurt from September 2011 to July 2013.
From July 2013 to January 2017, Sandhu served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
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