Arun Jaitley attends Rajya Sabha to participate in Deputy Chairman elections; appearance is first since kidney transplant in May

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who stepped aside as finance minister in May to undergo a kidney transplant, on Thursday attended the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha for the first time after undergoing a renal transplant in May. Jaitley also attended to participate in the election for the Deputy Chairman’s post, sources said. This is Jaitley’s first appearance in the Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session. [caption id=“attachment_4332225” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Arun Jaitley. AFP[/caption] “Jaitleyji will be present in the house tomorrow to participate in the voting,” a source said. Jaitley (65), who is also the Leader of the Upper House, was holding the charge of Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministries. He underwent a renal transplant on 14 May and on the same day, his ministerial charges were given to Piyush Goyal on an interim basis. Rajya Sabha members would be voting to elect the Deputy Chairperson on Thursday. Jaitley, a Rajya Sabha MP since 2000, was re-elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh in March. Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery was to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition. With inputs from PTI.