Articulate Ashwani returns to govt

CHANDIGARH: Suave and savvy Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, Ashwani Kumar has been brought back into government to give his state more representation as assembly elections are up in 2012.

Born in Delhi, Kumar has lived most of his life in the National Capital, practising both law and politics in Delhi for the most part. The Stephanian Supreme Court lawyer and former additional Solicitor-General of India connect with Punjab, therefore, more as a pravasi (diaspora ) scion. Indeed, his candid comments on industry during one interaction in Ludhiana gave some anxious moments to small and medium players while he was the minister of state in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. “Either you modernise or you close the industry,” Kumar had said at the time, ruffling many feathers.

Hence, there will be few who will say that he has a strong base in the state. “If there is any real representative of Punjab at the Centre, it is Preneet Kaur (Minister of State for External Affairs and no one else),” insists a Congress worker, and there may be many who subscribe to that view.

Kumar’s utility seems to be more as yet another member of the expanding club of front-line silver-haired legal eagles in the beleaguered UPA-II’s ministerial congregation. His stint as party spokesman may have played a role in his return, as the government gets ready for a stormy budget session