Interim Budget 2019: Days before, Goyal gets additional charge of FinMin

Jaitley will be minister without portfolio, the government announced days before it presents the interim budget on February 1

Railway minister Piyush Goyal has been given additional charge of finance and corporate affairs ministries as incumbent Arun Jaitley gets medical treatment in the US, it was announced on Wednesday.

Jaitley's portfolios have been temporarily assigned to Goyal in addition to his existing portfolios, said a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.

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", the communique said days before the government presents the interim budget on February 1. 

Goyal, 54, was in charge of the finance ministry in Jaitley's absence when he was on medical leave for three months last year following kidney transplant surgery. He was brought in as a cabinet minister in charge of railways after a series of train accidents. Goyal, a chartered accountant, is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election in-charge for Tamil Nadu.

Jaitley, 66, underwent surgery at a hospital in New York on Tuesday, reported news agency PTI.

Jaitley, a prominent member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's inner circle, had gone to New York for a medical check-up earlier this month. He had a gastric bypass operation in 2014 to keep his diabetes in check, reported news agency Reuters.