Arun Jaitley never quite liked me. Disliked me intensely as a matter of fact. I had refused to be a part of his journalist durbar and had filed a story, which he thought favoured a cabinet colleague of his and showed him in a bad light. No one ever wrote against Jaitley. (1/n)
He called me a day before the story was published & told me not to do it. I had sought comments from the then BJP president Amit Shah on the story. I politely told him I was going ahead with the story and would add his version of events if he wants to me to. He was shocked..(2/n)
“But I am telling you not to do it,” he said. I reminded him that he wasn’t the editor of my paper and he was free to speak to the editor if he wants to. Jaitley was the finance minister and the Modi govt had just been formed. To his credit, he didn’t call the editor.(3/n)
Jaitley never forgot that and never forgave me for that story. He didn’t forgive me for refusing his request either. He never missed an opportunity to gossip about me to other journalists and even top corporates or complain when he could. But that was one facet of him (4/n)
He was also incredibly nice & supportive to people who were loyal to him. Have not seen many politicians promote people in their party the way he did- Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal (who later turned turtle), were all his prodigies whom he promoted (5/n)
Even in the bureaucracy. Sunil Arora, for instance, became the CEC because of Jaitley. So did KV Chaudhery as CVC. Jaitley ensured people around him grew. Which included journalists, politicians and bureaucrats. He also wielded great influence over them as a result. (6/n)
But of everything, the influence he wielded over the two largest selling English newspapers was legendary. That earned him the title of ‘bureau chief’. Stories would be dropped or played up because of him. Even journalist promotions were decided by him. (7/n)
The political pages of Economic Times were once famously used by him years ago to settle scores with a party colleague. But, unlike other politicians who only promote themselves, he also used his influence over newspapers to push forward his party’s agenda. (8/n)
The @BJP4India has suffered a huge loss with his demise. He touched the lives of those around him in more ways than one. He was a dangerous enemy but also a great friend. The fact so many mediocre journalists are in positions they don’t deserve is testament to his friendship
And in increasingly turbulent times, @BJPIndia will miss the soft touch and consensus-building skills of Arun Jaitley that enabled tough legislations like GST to sail through through collaborative mechanisms like the GST council (9/9)
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