Did Sujatha Singh oppose some travel plans of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially to Fiji, which caused a rift between the Prime Minister's Office and the ministry of external affairs?

Or is it connected with her father, former IB chief TV Rajeshwar bringing pressure on the Manmohan Singh government to appoint her as foreign secretary?

Whatever be the reason, the Congress party has criticised the Modi government for replacing Singh, conveniently forgetting that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had sacked A P Venkateswaran in a televised press conference.

To silence the main opposition party, however, some file notings to Dr Singh by his advisor may be 'leaked' to the media, say sources.


Pic: Foreign secretary S Jaishankar meets his immediate boss External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj this morning