Piyush Goyal gets temporary charge of finance ministry

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 23

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been given additional charge of Ministries of Finance and Corporate Affairs, the portfolios held by Arun Jaitley.

Jaitley, who in the US for treatment, will be minister without portfolio.

As per a Rashtrapati Bhawan release, “The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, hereby directed that during the period of indisposition of Arun Jaitley, Minister; the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs held by him, be temporarily assigned to Piyush Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios.”

Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, Arun Jaitley be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs, it added.

The Interim Budget for 2019-20 would be presented in Parliament on February 1. 

Meanwhile, sources said Arun Jaitley has undergone surgery at a hospital in New York on Tuesday. He has been advised at least two weeks' rest by the doctors, they added.

Jaitley, who had unexpectedly left for the US on January 13, has undergone tests for soft tissue cancer, sources said. Even during this time, he has been active on social media writing Facebook posts and tweeting about current issues. 

Jaitley (66) had undergone a kidney transplant surgery on May 14 last, at AIIMS here and had not travelled abroad since then.

He was earlier this month named the publicity head of the BJP for the upcoming general elections.

Earlier on May 14, 2018, when Jaitley underwent a renal surgery and was out of the finance ministry for nearly 100 days, Goyal was given additional charge of the finance ministry.

Jaitley had stopped attending office since the beginning of April 2018.

On August 23, 2018, Jaitley returned as Finance Minister and in the next few months, he had limited public interaction in order to ward off any infection.

He has been the Finance Minister in the Modi government right from the time it came to power in May 2014. He, however, was a minister without a portfolio between May 14, 2018, and August 23, 2018.

A Rajya Sabha MP since 2000, he was re-elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh last year. He is also the leader of the House.

Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery, to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition, was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications. - With PTI inputs