Senior BJP leader and former finance minister Arun Jaitley passed away at the age of 66 on Saturday. 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. He did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections because of his ill-health.
AIIMS issued a statement on Arun Jaitley’s death. As per the statement, “It is with profound grief that we inform about the sad demise of Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Member of Parliament and former Finance Minister Government of India at 12:07 pm on August 24, 2019. Arun Jaitley was admitted in AIIMS, New Delhi on 09/08/2019 and was treated by a multidisciplinary team of senior Doctors.”
Jaitely was admitted to AIIMS following complaints of breathlessness and restlessness. He was shifted 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.
Jaitely was not keeping well for quite some time. 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. Earliers, in September 2014, he underwent bariatric surgery to correct the weight he had gained because of a long-standing diabetic condition.
Jaitley’s demise, after the death of ex-foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, has sent a shock wave in BJP.