Arun Jaitley opts out of new government for health reasons

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, saying he didn’t want to be a part of the new government owing to health reasons.

“I am writing to you to formally request you that I should be allowed a reasonable time for myself, my treatment and my health and therefore, not be a part of any responsibility, for the present, in the new government,” Jaitley, 66, wrote to the PM. The minister later tweeted out the letter.

In the evening, PM Modi drove to Jaitley’s residence to enquire about his health. He was with Jaitley for some time and the two are understood to have also discussed cabinet formation and related issues.


The new cabinet will be sworn in on Thursday evening and the final decision on Jaitley’s successor will be taken by PM Modi.

Over the past few days, there has been much speculation over Jaitley’s replacement and the names of key cabinet ministers and a top BJP functionary have done the rounds.

In his letter, Jaitley has offered to “informally” support the government and the party while he is recovering.

As FM, Jaitley steered some of the most far-reaching reforms such as the goods and services tax (GST) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

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Jaitley’s patient negotiations with states were said to have been key in securing their agreement to ensure the rollout of GST in July 2017.

He became finance minister in 2014 when Modi swept to power. He also briefly held charge of the defence and information & broadcasting ministries. He was the key force behind a number of government initiatives such as the establishment of the monetary policy committee, liberalisation of the foreign direct investment framework and abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Jaitley was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences last week to undergo tests and treatment for an undisclosed illness and was discharged on Thursday, the day election results were announced. He didn’t attend the celebrations at BJP headquarters that evening after its landslide win — 303 seats out of 542.

In his letter, Jaitley said he has faced “some serious” health challenges over the past 18 months.

“My doctors have enabled me to emerge out of most of them,” he wrote. “After the campaign had concluded and you were leaving for Kedarnath, I had orally informed you that even though I was able to discharge the responsibilities assigned to me during the campaign, I would in future, for some time, like to keep away from any responsibility. This will enable me to concentrate on my treatment and health.”

He said it was a matter of “great honour and learning experience” to have been a part of the Modi government for the past five years. “I could not have asked for more,” he said.

Jaitley had a renal transplant in May last year at AIIMS in New Delhi, with Piyush Goyal filling in for him at the time. After having stopped attending office since early April 2018, he was back in the finance ministry on August 23, 2018. He underwent surgery in the US in January this year, forcing him to skip the budget presentation. Goyal presented the interim budget for FY20 in his place.

Jaitley returned to India in February and was actively involved in the BJP’s campaign ahead of elections.

One of India’s top lawyers, Jaitley was also a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, entrusted with key portfolios such as commerce & industry, law, corporate affairs and information & broadcasting. He was the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2009 to 2014.

A key strategist and one of the key voices in the Modi government, Jaitley did not contest the recent elections presumably due to ill health. He had lost his first parliamentary election from Amritsar in 2014.