Two out of the top three leaders in BJP are out of action

• BJP President Amit Shah is admitted in AIIMS for swine flu treatment.
  
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has flown to the US for medical reasons.
  
• Few months before election, BJP’s top leaders are missing in action.
  

India is just a few days away from the interim budget, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already started campaigning for the general elections due in May, but both his Finance Minister and the party president are out of action due to bad health.

The Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah has been admitted in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as he is down with swine flu. Shah took to Twitter to post about his health and wrote, “I have been affected by swine flu disease and the treatment for the same is going on. With the blessings of God and love and good wishes of all of you, I shall be healthy soon.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has flown to the US for medical treatment. All eyes were on Jaitley as he was supposed to present the Interim Budget 2019 on February 1 and now reports say that he might even miss the presentation of the budget. Jaitley, who has been tweeting rigorously even while undergoing treatment, is suffering from a rare form of cancer according to reports.

Jaitley has been suffering from health issues for a while now. In 2018, Jaitley had taken off from his duties as Finance Minister when he underwent dialysis followed by a renal transplant in May. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had taken additional charge of the finance ministry then.

Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi too sent his best wishes for the Finance Minister. He tweeted, “I'm upset to hear Arun Jaitley Ji is not well. We fight him on a daily basis for his ideas. However, I and the Congress party send him our love and best wishes for a speedy recovery. We are with you and your family 100% during this difficult period Mr Jaitley.”

Another senior BJP leader Ram Lal, the National General Secretary, has been admitted to Kailash Hospital in Noida due to high fever.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad too was admitted in the ICU at AIIMS complaining of nasal congestion. He was discharged on Thursday afternoon.

With a wobbly economy, and the disappointment in recent state elections, the ruling BJP government has an uphill task before the country goes to vote in less than five months. Any flux in the top leadership will be a setback for the party.

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