Shashi Tharoor misses ‘crossing political swords’ with Arun Jaitley

Shashi Tharoor, the Congress leader representing Thiruvananthapuram in Parliament, said on August 12, that he felt relieved to learn that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Arun Jaitley’s health has stabilised.

For three consecutive days the condition of Tharoor’s “university contemporary and friend” has reportedly been stable, much to the Congress MP’s relief. Jaitley was admitted to the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on August 10 after he experienced respiratory problems.

Taking to his official handle on the social media platform, Tharoor tweeted that he misses “crossing political swords” with the former finance minister and looks forward to engaging in a dogmatic verbal spar again.

The 63-year-old wrote: “Relieved to learn that for the third day in a row, my university contemporary & friend @arunjaitley’s health condition is reported by AIIMS to be stable. I wish him a speedy & complete recovery & look forward to crossing political swords with him again!”

Relieved to learn that for a third day in a row, my university contemporary & friend @arunjaitley's health condition is reported by AIIMS to be stable. I wish him a speedy & complete recovery & look forward to crossing political swords with him again!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 12, 2019

Notably, Jaitley had also gone on a rather long sabbatical during his tenure as the country’s finance minister in 2018, when he underwent a kidney transplant.

However, he never was in the pink of health thereafter. In fact, a patient of diabetes, Jaitley was even absent when the Interim Budget was presented in February. He was undergoing treatment at a hospital in the US at the time. He was also admitted to AIIMS once earlier this year.

After BJP’s landslide victory in the recently concluded national general election, Jaitley had written to PM Modi to inform that he would not be able to hold any portfolio in the new Cabinet due to his deteriorating health condition. “I am writing to you to formally request you that I should be allowed a reasonable time for myself, my treatment and my health and therefore, not be a part of any responsibility, for the present, in the new government,” Jaitley had written.