Manohar Parrikar, Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and now Arun Jaitley, BJP lost its fourth tallest leader and this era ends here. Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister and the chief troubleshooter of the BJP, has died at Delhi’s AIIMS hospital, two weeks after he was admitted following complaints of breathlessness. He was 66. Leaders across party lines visited Arun Jaitley’s home to pay tributes to the leader. He was cremated on Sunday. Arun Jaitley, a lawyer by profession, had been an important part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in the BJP government’s first term. He held the finance and defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government. During his tenure as finance minister, Jaitley led the enactment of a bankruptcy code and the Goods and Services Tax or GST. Arun Jaitley was known to be part of senior BJP leader LK Advani’s core team. But it was his bond with PM Modi, cemented by his role as a bridge between Gujarat and New Delhi, which fuelled his rapid rise. President Ram Nath Kovind and hundreds of leaders paid tributes to the BJP veteran last evening at his south Delhi home.
Visitors continued to pour in this morning. Senior Congress leader Motilal Vohra, NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, RLD leader Ajit Singh and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu visited his home.
BJP workers and mourners queued up outside the BJP office where Jaitley’s casket, wrapped in the national flag, was placed. Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah was among those who paid floral tributes at the party headquarters. Jaitley ji survived by wife Sangeeta, daughter Sonali and son Rohan.
