Piyush Goyal given temporary charge of Finance Ministry days before Interim Budget

Finance and Corporate Affairs ministries will be temporarily held by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in addition to his existing portfolios. Arun Jaitley will be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition, said ANI in a tweet.  

The decision has been taken in view of the indisposition of Arun Jaitley, who is currently undergoing treatment abroad in the US.

During the period of indisposition of Arun Jaitley, the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs will be temporarily held by Piyush Goyal in addition to his existing portfolios. pic.twitter.com/VlJNRLibDH

— ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, the President, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, directed that during the period of Jaitley's indisposition, the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Corporate Affairs, held by him, be temporarily assigned to Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios.

Jaitley has been designated as a minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time when he is able to resume his work.

He was to present his sixth and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s last Budget on February 1 - the last one before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However Jaitley had to leave for the US for treatment for a medical check-up relating to his kidney ailment.

Jaitley, who had undergone a renal transplant surgery on May 14, 2018, had not travelled abroad in the past nine months. His post-operative recovery was being closely monitored by a team of transplant surgeons, pulmonologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist, cardiologist and critical care experts among others.

The 65-year-old political leader received a kidney from a distant relative, a middle-aged woman, according to sources at AIIMS. The donation fell under the category of ‘live unrelated donation’.