AMN / NEW DELHI
Former finance minister Arun Jaitley today formally requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to be given any responsibility in the upcoming cabinet owing to his deteriorating health.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Jaitely said: “I would in future for some time like to keep away from any responsibility. This will enable me to concentrate on my health and treatment,” reads the letter by the former finance and corporate affairs minister.
Several reports of Jaitley’s ill-health surfaced last week, raising doubts over his availability for the cabinet which is due to be sworn in on Thursday. The Centre, however, on Sunday said reports of Jaitley’s deteriorating health are false and baseless, and media should stay clear of rumour mongering.
Government spokesperson Sitanshu Kar took to Twitter to clear the air. “Reports in a section of media regarding Union Minister Shri Arun Jaitley’s health condition are false and baseless. Media is advised to stay clear of rumour mongering,” he tweeted.
The outgoing finance minister was admitted to AIIMS earlier in the month to undergo tests and treatment for an undisclosed illness and was discharged on Thursday. However, he did not attend celebrations at the BJP headquarters that evening after the party’s emphatic victory in general elections.
In the letter, he said, “During the last eighteen months, I have had some serious health challenges. My doctors have enabled me emerge out of most of them.”
Jaitley underwent a surgery in the US on January 22 for a reported soft tissue cancer in his left leg, an illness that deprived him from presenting Modi government’s sixth and final budget of its current term. Railways and Coal minister Piyush Goyal was the stand-in finance minister who presented the interim budget for 2019-20.
