Jaishankar briefs MPs on India’s engagement with neighbours
   Date :19-Jan-2020

Jaishankar briefs MPs on
 
NEW DELHI :
 
EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday assured members of Parliament that India is safeguarding its interests in its neighbourhood amid rising influence of China. Jaishankar was briefing members of the Consultative Committee on External Affairs including former Congress President Rahul Gandhi. “Animated discussion on the neighbourhood and beyond. Shared our thinking and assessment on contemporary issues,” the Minister tweeted after the meeting.
 
Biju Janata Dal MP Sasmit Patra, a member of the committee, said interactions were very meaningful, insightful and intense. “Discussions focussed on India’s neighbourhood. Details of the deliberations in the Committee are confidential and therefore cannot be disclosed,” he tweeted. Congress leader and former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor described the meeting as “lively” and underlined that various probing questions were asked by Rahul Gandhi. “Just finished a lively meeting of the Consultative Committee on External Affairs today chaired by S Jaishankar.
 
Rahul Gandhi was in his element and his probing questions elicited candid responses (both must stay off the record alas!) Parliamentary democracy in action,” he said on Twitter. BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao praised Jaishankar, saying as an “accomplished diplomat and a hugely successful minister”, he fielded questions of all members with “immaculate finesse, clarity and vision”. “Thank you @DrSJaishankar for an excellent interaction and replies to all our ‘probing’ questions,” Rao, who was present in the meeting, added. Sources said the discussions were “very fruitful” and there was “no acrimony”.
 
They said the Minister explained and put in perspective how the Government is engaging with India’s neighbours. On the question of rising influence of China in India’s neighbourhood, Jaishankar assured the MPs that India is safeguarding its interests in the region, they said. Besides Jaishankar, top officials of the Ministry, Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale and his successor Harsh Vardhan Shringla were also present in the meeting.