Despite “fighting on a daily basis”, Congress President Rahul Gandhi sent his love and best wishes to ailing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is currently in New York for a medical check-up relating to his kidney ailment.
“I'm upset to hear Arun Jaitley Ji is not well. We fight him on a daily basis for his ideas. However, I and the Congress party send him our love and best wishes for a speedy recovery. We are with you and your family 100% during this difficult period Mr Jaitley,” tweeted Rahul Gandhi.
Jaitley, who had undergone a renal transplant surgery on 14 May 2018, had not travelled abroad in the last nine months.
He was scheduled to attend the 10th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue in London in April last year, but had cancelled his visit due to his kidney ailment.
Officials are tight-lipped about the trip which has come at a time when the Finance Ministry is busy with the preparations of the vote-on-account budget to be presented in the Lok Sabha on 1 February – his sixth and the last by the BJP-led NDA government in its current term.
By convention, an interim budget normally does not contain fresh proposals, especially relating to taxation measures. But the coming vote-on-account budget may spring some surprises like increase in the exemption threshold for income tax assessees and some measures to address agrarian unrest.
Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS early April, last year, following which he underwent dialysis. He had a renal transplant surgery on 14 May 2018.
In his absence, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal was given the additional charge of Finance Ministry on 14 May.
Jaitley, 66, who had stopped attending office at the beginning of April, was back in North Block – the seat of Finance Ministry – on 23 August.
In September 2014, Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition.
That surgery was first performed at Max Hospital, but Jaitley was later shifted to AIIMS because of complications. Several years ago, he had a heart surgery too.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS.)
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