<p class="title">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unexpectedly left for the US for a medical check-up following a kidney transplant last year, sources said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley, 66, who had a kidney transplant operation and follow-up check-ups at AIIMS last year, left for the US on Sunday night for a "regular medical check-up", sources said without indicating when he would return.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This is Jaitley's first overseas visit since his kidney ailment was confirmed in April last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was supposed to be a keynote speaker at the 7th C D Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) on Tuesday evening.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley, who was last week named the publicity head of his party - BJP's election team, is to present the BJP-led NDA government's sixth and last budget on February 1, before the general elections due by May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Though it is supposed to be an interim Budget, seeking Parliament nod for government spending for first four months of 2019-20 fiscal year beginning April, it is widely expected that his speech would be a full-length budget speech.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The new government will present the Budget for the fiscal in July.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley had on May 14, 2018, undergone a renal surgery and was out of the finance ministry for nearly 100-days. During this period, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal was given additional charge of the finance ministry.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He had stopped attending office at the beginning of April 2018 and had even cancelled a scheduled attendance at the 10th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue in London.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley returned as Finance Minister on August 23, 2018, and during the next few months limited public interaction to ward off any infection.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He has been the Finance Minister in the Modi government right from the time it took office in May 2014. He, however, was a minister without a portfolio between May 14, 2018, and August 23, 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A Rajya Sabha MP since 2000, he was re-elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh in March this year. He is also the leader of the House.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery, to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition, was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications.</p>
<p class="title">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unexpectedly left for the US for a medical check-up following a kidney transplant last year, sources said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley, 66, who had a kidney transplant operation and follow-up check-ups at AIIMS last year, left for the US on Sunday night for a "regular medical check-up", sources said without indicating when he would return.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This is Jaitley's first overseas visit since his kidney ailment was confirmed in April last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was supposed to be a keynote speaker at the 7th C D Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) on Tuesday evening.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley, who was last week named the publicity head of his party - BJP's election team, is to present the BJP-led NDA government's sixth and last budget on February 1, before the general elections due by May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Though it is supposed to be an interim Budget, seeking Parliament nod for government spending for first four months of 2019-20 fiscal year beginning April, it is widely expected that his speech would be a full-length budget speech.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The new government will present the Budget for the fiscal in July.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley had on May 14, 2018, undergone a renal surgery and was out of the finance ministry for nearly 100-days. During this period, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal was given additional charge of the finance ministry.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He had stopped attending office at the beginning of April 2018 and had even cancelled a scheduled attendance at the 10th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue in London.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley returned as Finance Minister on August 23, 2018, and during the next few months limited public interaction to ward off any infection.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He has been the Finance Minister in the Modi government right from the time it took office in May 2014. He, however, was a minister without a portfolio between May 14, 2018, and August 23, 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A Rajya Sabha MP since 2000, he was re-elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh in March this year. He is also the leader of the House.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery, to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition, was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications.</p>