‘Senior who stood by me through thick & thin’

New Delhi, August 24

When BJP chief Amit Shah today spoke of late Arun Jaitley, one of the tallest BJP leaders of recent times, his pain and anguish was there for all to see. Tears brimmed in his eyes as Shah shared how Jaitley had stood behind him and his family in difficult phases. “It is a personal loss. I have not just lost a senior party colleague, but also a family member who guided me for several years,” he said.

Jaitley was not just the chief trouble-shooter for the BJP or the government, but also for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah during some of their difficult times in Gujarat politics.

The 2002 Gujarat riots happened soon after Modi took as CM. It was time when the state unit was a divided lot and then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted Modi to follow "raj dharma". The number two in his Cabinet, LK Advani, was not in agreement, but it was Jaitley who convinced Vajpayee that removing Modi would do more harm than any good to the party.

Later, he also helped Modi devise his election strategies, building an image as development man and a Hindutva icon. In the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari were in contention to replace Advani as the prime ministerial candidate. Jaitley helped iron out differences and bring everyone on board on Modi's name.

Jaitley was also a trouble-shooter for Shah when he was going through a difficult phase in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. During the period he was banished from Gujarat, it was common to find Shah in Jaitley’s office. When Parliament was in session, Shah could also be found in Jaitley’s chambers. Jaitley was then Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. — TNS