New Delhi: Retired career diplomat Hardeep Puri, who served as India's permanent representative at the UN, on Thursday joined BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, following in the footsteps of former Home Secretary RK Singh and Petroleum Secretary RS Pandey.
Puri, a 1974-batch Indian Foreign Service Officer, had put in 39 years of service and held several senior positions in the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence Ministry. He held Ambassadorial assignments in London and Brasilia.
In 2011 and 2012, as Permanent Representative at UN in New York, he led the Indian delegation to the Security Council. He also chaired its Counter-Terrorism Committee. Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, with whom Puri enjoys a good relationship, is understood to be instrumental in bringing him into the party.
Former Home Secretary RK Singh had joined the BJP on December 13 along with Sunil Shastri, son of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, former petroleum secretary RS Pandey and retired Railways official Dharam Singh in presence of BJP president Rajnath Singh.
Welcoming Puri in the party fold, Rajnath Singh said, "We look forward to utilising his experience in the areas of Foreign, Security and Trade policies". Puri said he was delighted to formally join the party which he had long admired for its strong sense of nationalism.
He said he looked forward to doing party work and was ready to contribute in whatever manner the party president and BJP's senior leadership asked him to.
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