Arun Jaitley takes oath as Rajya Sabha member for new term

Sworn in at Venkaiah Naidu’s chambers owing to his health condition.

Sworn in at Venkaiah Naidu’s chambers owing to his health condition.

Making a public appearance in weeks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took oath on Sunday as a Rajya Sabha member for a new six-year term.

Mr. Jaitley, who has been working from the controlled environment of his home after being diagnosed with a kidney-related issue, was administered the oath of office in the Rajya Sabha Chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu’s chambers.

Elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh last month, this special swearing-in ceremony was done because of the Finance Minister’s health condition. “Took oath of office as Rajya Sabha Member representing Uttar Pradesh, April 15, 2018,” Mr. Jaitley tweeted soon after the ceremony.

Leaders present

Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad too was present. Union Ministers who attended the ceremony included Ananth Kumar (Parliamentary Affairs), his deputy, Vijay Goel, Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law), Prakash Javadekar (HRD), Piyush Goyal (Railways), Hardeep S. Puri (Urban Development), and Shiv Pratap Shukla, the Junior Minister in the Finance Ministry.

Mr. Jaitley had been reappointed as Leader of the Rajya Sabha following his election from Uttar Pradesh but could not be sworn in because of ill-health.

The Finance Minister had stopped attending office in North Block since April 2. Cancelling his scheduled overseas trips, Mr. Jaitley tweeted to confirm his illness.“I am being treated for kidney related problems & certain infections that I have contracted. I am therefore currently working from controlled environment at home. The future course of my treatment would be determined by the doctors treating me.”

Though there were reports that Mr. Jaitley would undergo a kidney transplant, he underwent dialysis at AIIMS on April 9 and has been working from his home.

Newsletter

Prime Minister Modi inaugurates Atal Tunnel - longest tunnel above 10000 ft

Ladakh: The Prime Minister today inaugurated the Atal Tunnel and took the inaugural drive through in the 9km long tunnel...

Orissa High Court Order regarding migrant workers entry into Orissa put on hold by the Supreme Court

The Orissa High Court order to permit the entry of migrant workers only if they tested Negative for COVID-19 was put on...

Coronavirus Lockdown - First Flights To Bring Back Indians Stranded Abroad Land In Kerala

On Monday, the central government announced plans to begin a massive repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad, dubbe...

Reacting to Trump's retaliation threat India allows Hydroxychloroquine export

In a move after Trump's threat to retaliate if India fails to send medicines, India has lifted ban of export of ess...

All Domestic Passenger Flights Suspended from Midnight Tomorrow

The operations of all domestic schedule commercial airlines will stop operations from 23.59pm on March 24, a government...

Iran says it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian plane, blames ‘human error’

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, sa...