Country lost an intelligent politician, good orator: Raman Singh on Jaitley's demise

Expressing grief over the demise of BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh on Saturday said that the country has lost an intelligent politician and a good orator.

"During his stint as a finance minister he held around 60-70 meetings with opposition parties to implement the GST in the nation, he had a vast contact, nearly every political party revered him," Singh said while remembering Jaitley.

Singh said, "He always gave the best advice to me in various matters, no matter how hard things got he never used to get panic. In BJP, he was known as a saviour of the party."

Echoing the similar sentiments, BJP leader Baijayant Panda said, "Jaitley was my mentor long before I joined BJP, I can never forget the day when I had started 19 years ago, he took me under his wings and welcomed me."

The former finance minister was admitted to the AIIMS earlier this month after he complained of restlessness. He was placed under observation at the hospital's Cardio-Neuro-Centre.

Several leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other top BJP and Congress leaders had continued to visit Jaitley who was kept on life-support.

Jaitley first became a cabinet minister in the government of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000. He then also 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 Modi government in 2014. He opted out of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections citing health reasons.