File photo of Arun Jaitley
He has made his name as a competent Supreme Court lawyer. He is a master orator, famous for his repartee and one-liners. He is a key strategist, having steered his party's campaign successfully in difficult states such as Gujarat (2002 and 2007), Madhya Pradesh (2003), Bihar (2005), Karnataka (2004 and 2008) and Punjab (2007 and 2012). And now he forays into electoral politics by entering the race for the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar.
It might seem baffling to many that Arun Jaitley, despite showing an early spark as a student leader way back in 1974, when he was elected as the president of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) on the platform of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), could become a minister at the Centre only in October, 1999. He made his debut in Parliament a few months later, when he became a member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
In 1975, when emergency was imposed across the country by Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, Mr Jaitley was among the first leaders to be arrested. He remained in jail for 19 months, but decided to concentrate on his legal career after being released. He completed his LLB from the Delhi University's faculty of law in 1977, and plunged immediately into building his name as a lawyer.
When VP Singh dislodged Rajiv Gandhi as the prime minister of Indian in 1989, Mr Jaitley was appointed as an additional solicitor general. It was seen as a reward for his perseverance in exposing the Bofors bribery scandal. He represented the BJP and its top leaders in the Babri Masjid demolition case. In April 1997, Mr Jaitley scored a big legal victory when he got LK Advani acquitted by the Delhi High Court in the Jain hawala diary case.
It was only in 1999 that he was handed over his first ministerial assignment. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee returned to power at the Centre for the third time, Mr Jaitley was given the independent charge of the information and broadcasting ministry. He was very soon elevated to the Cabinet rank, and entrusted with the portfolios of law and justice and disinvestment. He was handling the commerce and industry ministry when the NDA government was voted out by the electorate in 2004.
He returned to his legal profession after 2004, but simultaneously immersed himself in party work, earning accolades for strategising the party's victories in several states. In 2009, after the BJP tasted defeat in the general election for the second consecutive term, Mr Jaitley was elevated as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He was last year conferred with the award for being the best parliamentarian.
At the age of 61, Mr Jaitley is contesting is first-ever election. But as he campaigns in Amritsar, where he faces a formidable rival in former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, he realises that electoral politics is a different ball-game together.
A keen follower of cricket, Mr Jaitley has also made his mark as an able administrator in the cricketing world. He was the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) till the end of 2013, and was credited with renovating the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. He was tipped to take over as the next president of the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), but decided to rivet his attention on plotting his party's comeback at the Centre in this year's national election.
If Narendra Modi realises his ambition of becoming the country's prime minister, Mr Jaitley is certain to be entrusted with an important responsibility. He is one of the few leaders who has backed Mr Modi consistently. The two leaders have been very close to each other since their days in the ABVP.
When he is not discussing politics and cricket, Mr Jaitley is fond of watching old Hindi movies. He loves listening to old Hindi film songs in his free time.
Mr Jaitley is married to Sangeeta Jaitley, and the couple has two children - a daughter and a son, both of whom want to follow in his footsteps by trying to become front-ranking lawyers.