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With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recovering from a kidney surgery, and likely to be recuperating till October, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been given additional charge of the Finance and Corporate Affairs ministries. This was announced in a press communique from Rashtrapathi Bhavan on Monday.
The communique also said Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been assigned independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in place of Smriti Irani, presently Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
SS Ahluwalia, Minister of State, is being relieved of the charge of Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation and has been assigned the portfolio of Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. He replaces Alphons Kannanthanam at the MEITy.
Jaitley recovering
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences said in a statement on Monday that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has successfully undergone a renal transplant.
“The surgery has been successful. Both the recipient and donor are stable and recovering well,” it said.
The 65-year-old Jaitley, who was admitted to the hospital on Saturday, was taken to the operation theatre at 8 am on Monday. Jaitley has undergone heart and bariatric surgeries in the past. He has been working from home since the first week of April.
He attended a Cabinet meeting at South Block and chaired the GST Council meeting on May 4, the latter via video conferencing.
He is expected to rejoin work around October.
The Minister, who cancelled his visit to London for the 10th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, scheduled for next week, had confirmed his illness in a tweet on April 6: “I am being treated for kidney related problems & certain infections that I have contracted.”
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Goyal expressed happiness over the successful surgery, on Twitter.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi also sent his wishes in a tweet: “I’m happy to hear that Jaitley ji’s kidney transplant surgery, today at AIIMS, went well. I wish him a speedy recovery.”
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