Arun Jaitley resumes charge as Finance Minister, attends meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security

Union Minister Arun Jaitley assumes charge as Finance Minister today (15 February) according to media reports. After resuming charge, sources said Jaitley also attended a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security to discuss the Pulwama attack that killed at least 40 CRPF personnel on Thursday. The President’s Office will issue a notification on Jaitley resuming charge of the finance ministry. Jaitley left for the United States on 13 January after being reportedly diagnosed with soft tissue cancer. Subsequently on 23 January, the charge of the finance ministry and corporate affairs was given to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on temporary basis. Jaitley returned from the United States on Saturday.

.@arunjaitley will assume charge as Finance Minister and attend Cabinet Committee on Security at 9.15 am today.

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) February 15, 2019

Jaitley, who was the Finance Minister before the medical procedure led to the charge being temporarily taken away from him, missed presenting the sixth and final Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the general elections. In his absence, the charge of the ministry was given to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. Jaitley, however, has been active on social media tweeting and writing Facebook posts and had also met reporters through a video call from New York and fielded questions on the Budget. He also gave interviews on the subject. In an interview to PTI in New York after the Budget presentation, Jaitley said he was on recovery course and will return to India in time to reply to the Budget debate in Parliament will depend on when his doctors allow him to leave. [caption id=“attachment_5025701” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  File photo of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. PTI[/caption] “It depends on my treatment here, which is all over. I am on the recovery course. It’s when my doctors allow me to go back. As of present, as I understand, Piyush Goyal will be replying (to the Budget debate in Parliament),” he had said. Jaitley, 66, had last month flown to New York for the treatment after being reportedly diagnosed with soft tissue cancer which required surgery. This was his first overseas visit after he underwent renal transplant surgery on 14 May 2018, at AIIMS. He had stopped attending office at the beginning of April last year due to his kidney ailment and was back in North Block—the seat of Finance Ministry—on 23 August 2018. Even then, Goyal had manned the ministry for about 100 days. In September 2014, Jaitley underwent bariatric surgery to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition. --With inputs from agencies