Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan among others pay tributes to former finance minister Arun Jaitley on his death anniversary

NEW DELHI: Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Dharmendra Pradhan paid tribute to former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on his death anniversary in New Delhi on Sunday.

They were joined by Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj.

Union Minister Amit Shah paid tribute to Arun Jaitley on his death anniversary and shared a post on ‘X’. Remembering the former Union finance minister, Shah termed him as a “sharp intellect and an effective orator”.

Shah said that Jaitley contributed towards strengthening the nation’s governance and worked for the welfare of the people.

“Remembering Arun Jaitley Ji on his Punyatithi. A leader with sharp intellect and an effective orator, Jaitley Ji contributed to strengthening the nation’s governance for the welfare of the people and dedicated himself to propagating the BJP’s ideals and vision. His unwavering commitment to public service will continue to inspire young leaders and policymakers,” the ‘X’ post read.

The former Finance Minister died at the age of 66 on August 24, 2019.

Jaitley first became a Cabinet Minister in the government of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000. He then went on to serve as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from June 2009.

He was appointed the Finance Minister in the first term of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government in 2014.

As a Finance Minister, Jaitley broke several conventions, from merging the Railway Budget with the General Budget— with an aim of presenting a holistic picture of the financial picture of government — to advancing the budget presentation to February 1.

It is owing to these break of conventions that the 2017 budget presented by Jaitley is remembered as the Budget of many firsts. Other such examples included the announcement of the Economic Survey 2016-17 on January 31, and going paperless for the Budget in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India pitch. (ANI)