Arun Jaitley: BJP's troubleshooter-in-chief
Former finance minister Arun Jaitley, a key strategist and chief trouble-shooter of the BJP and the Narendra Modi government during its first term, died on Saturday at the AIIMS here after battling multiple health issues for the last several months.
He was 66.
In a brief statement, the hospital said Jaitley breathed his last at 12.07 pm. He was admitted to the hospital on August 9.
The urbane and media-savvy leader was one of the sharpest political minds not only within the BJP but also in the larger political spectrum where he made lifelong allies cutting across the ideological divide.
He was perhaps among the BJP bigwigs who made a smooth transition from the Atal-Advani era in the party to the one where Narendra Modi dominated, ushering in the rise of a new generation leaders.