Arun Jaitley, Former Finance Minister and BJP Veteran, Passes Away at 66
Arun Jaitley Passes Away LIVE Updates: Former finance minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley passed away at the age of 66 on Saturday, a week after he was admitted to AIIMS following complaints of breathlessness and restlessness.
Jaitley had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the All India Institute of Medical Science on August 9 and had been declared haemodynamically stable. A hemodynamically stable patient has a stable heart pump and good blood circulation. The authorities at AIIMS did not issue any bulletin on Jaitley's health condition since August 9.
A lawyer by profession, Arun Jaitley had been an important part of Narendra Modi's cabinet during his first tenure as prime minister. 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 elections because of his ill-health. He had undergone renal transplant on May 14 last year with Piyush Goyal filling in for him in the finance ministry at the time. Jaitley, who had stopped attending office since early April 2018, 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.
Jaitley’s demise leaves the country numb, days after the nation lost former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and ex-foreign minister Sushma Swaraj.
