Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held a meeting on Friday with top bureaucrats of the finance ministry asking them to expedite plans for the first budget of the Modi government’s second tenure, amid rumours of his ill-health.
Jaitley took the meeting minutes on the day when the Union Cabinet passed a resolution to dissolve the 16th Lok Sabha of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s first term was dissolved. The meeting, which discussed key economic issues at length, lasted for about an hour at his residence.
Finance Secretary Subhash Garg, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Expenditure Secretary Girish Chandra Murmu, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar, DIPAM Secretary Atanu Chakraborty and other senior officials from North Block were present in the meeting.
“He discussed the roadmap for the new government and the discussions revolved around the Goods and Services Tax (GST), direct tax code, liquidity position of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and other crucial topics,” a person aware about the development said, requesting anonymity.
Officials present at the meeting said Jaitley was in good health and looked fit to join the cabinet of the NDA government’s second tenure. “He just told us to start work on Budget 2019-20,” another official said.
There has been widespread speculation on whether Jaitley would continue as Finance Minister, given concerns about his health, though it was made clear that Modi would want to retain Jaitley in North Block. Reports indicated that BJP President Amit Shah, and Rail Minister Piyush Goyal were tipped to be Finance Minister had Jaitley not continued for health reasons.
The swearing-in of the new government is expected next week, and the decision on ministerial posts rests with Modi.