Lost a valued friend: PM Modi mourns Arun Jaitley's demise

Remembering his bonding with Jaitley, Modi tweeted, "With the demise of Arun Jaitley Ji, I have lost a valued friend, whom I have had the honour of knowing for decades. His insight on issues and nuanced understanding of matters had very few parallels. He lived well, leaving us all with innumerable happy memories. We will miss him!"

Commenting on Jaitley's association with the ruling BJP, the Prime Minister said in a separate tweet, "BJP and Arun Jaitley Ji had an unbreakable bond. As a fiery student leader, he was at forefront of protecting our democracy during the Emergency. He became a much liked face of our Party, who could articulate the Party programmes and ideology to a wide spectrum of society."

Jaitley passed away at the age of 66 at AIIMS here on Saturday finally losing the battle with protracted illness.

He breathed his last at 12:07 pm.

A lawyer by profession, Jaitley is survived by his wife Sangeeta, a son and a daughter who also joined the legal profession. He was admitted to the AIIMS on August 9 with complaints of breathing problems.

The 1952 born Jaitley had undergone a renal transplant last year and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal handled the portfolio of Finance for sometime.

Due to his ill health, Jaitley could not present the last budget of the Modi government's first term in February and the task was passed on to Piyush Goyal. Also the senior politician, who was the finance minister when Modi announced the controversial demonetisation move in 2016, opted out of the second Modi innings in New Delhi owing to his illness.

The death of Jaitley came as a big setback to the BJP after the passing away of another top leader, Sushma Swaraj. Both were considered the liberal faces of the Hindu nationalist BJP known for its hard line HIndutva beliefs derived from its ideological parent, the RSS.