Arun Jaitley, former finance minister, dies at 66

Former Finance Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday, ANI reported. He died at 12.07 pm, according to a press release issued by AIIMS. Jaitley, 66, had been admitted to the hospital on August 9. Several national leaders including President Ram Nath Kovind, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, veteran BJP leader LK Advani, ministers Smriti Irani, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and others had visited him in hospital. AIIMS had not issued a bulletin on Jaitley’s health after August 10. Jaitley was the finance minister in the Narendra Modi-led government from 2014 to 2019, and briefly held the defence portfolio in 2017. He was unable to present the Union Budget in February 2019 as he was away in the United States for treatment of a form of cancer. He underwent a kidney transplant surgery in 2018. After the Narendra Modi-led government returned to power in May, Jaitley told Modi he would not be part of the new government. Jaitley said he had faced some “serious health challenges” in the last 18 months. Arun Jaitley was leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2009 to 2014. In Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government between 1999 and 2004, he held multiple cabinet portfolios including commerce, and law and justice. He studied law and was a senior advocate until he stopped practising in 2009 due to his political duties. As a student, he was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Source: Scroll.in