The untimely demise of Arun Jaitley created a void in Indian political landscape that would be difficult to fill up. His death was untimely because 66 is no age to die. He had a lot more to contribute to the nation. It will certainly be difficult to get another Jaitley not only in BJP, his political party, but in other parties too. As a commentator rightly put it - he may be succeeded but can not be replaced.

                   Jaitley, a multifaceted personality, had a number of unique and extraordinary qualities seldom seen in other leaders, both past and present. And one among them was his desire and efforts to promote and groom political talents and utilize their services for the development of the party as well as the nation.

                   A case in point is current finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. From making her a Rajya Sabha member to her inclusion as minister of state for commerce and subsequently promoting her to the rank of a cabinet minister in charge of a key portfolio like the defence during the Modi 1 regime and making her the finance minister in his place in Modi 2 dispensation, Jaitley had played an important role. Only because of the departed political heavyweight, the country got its first lady defence as well as finance minister.

                   Some of his other important protégés who made it big in politics are the current minister for railways Piyush Goyal and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Both remained close to him till his end. Unlike politicians in other political parties, particularly in Congress, Jaitley perhaps had realised the importance of grooming talents within the party which ultimately pays huge dividends.

                  For that matter Prime Minister Narendra Modi can also be described as his protégé. For, the late leader had played an extremely important role in projecting the then Gujarat chief minister as BJP’s prime ministerial face on the eve of the 2014 general elections. He even had to push aside the attempt by a powerful section within the party to thrown up his one time mentor L K Advani as the saffron party’s nominee for prime ministership.

                  Not all his protégés had remained loyal to him till his end. An example is cricketer-turned-politico Navjot Singh Sidhu who is now a Congress leader after jumping the fence from the BJP. It was Jaitley who had cleared the decks for Sidhu for his smooth entry into the BJP and his subsequent election to Lok Sabha from Amritsar on a BJP ticket.

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