Arun Jaitley no more

New Delhi:  Senior BJP leader and former finance minister Arun Jaitley passed on Saturday noon at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). He was 66.

Jaitley was in critical condition and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on August 9 after he complained of breathlessness and restlessness as per the last bulletin issued by the hospital on Jaitley’s health condition on August 10.

Jaitley, a lawyer by profession, had been a key member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet in the BJP government’s first term. He held the finance and defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government.

Jaitley did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election, presumably because of his ill-health. In May this year, Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS for treatment. He had undergone a renal transplant on May 14 last year at AIIMS with Railways Minister Piyush Goyal filling in for him in the finance ministry at that time.

Jaitley, who had stopped attending office since early April last year, was back in the finance ministry on August 23, 2018. In September 2014, he underwent bariatric surgery to correct the weight he had gained because of a long-standing diabetic condition.