Congress likely to rehabilitate Bhardwaj at a Raj Bhawan

NEW DELHI: Former law minister HR Bhardwaj appears not to be completely out in the cold. The senior Congressman and Gandhi family loyalist is likely to be rehabilitated as a governor. Mr Bhardwaj, who has been part of every Congress-led government since 1991, had taken his exclusion from the UPA Cabinet bravely. He had assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of his ���loyalty and devotion��� to the party���s work. On his part, the prime minister had said that there were ���other avenues of public service���, indicating that efforts would be made to accommodate senior party leaders who had been left out from the council of ministers.

The senior Congressman found himself out in the cold during the Cabinet formation exercise on account of his mishandling of sensitive issues during his tenure as law minister in the Manmohan Singh government. Mr Bhardwaj���s bungling of the Office of Profit legislation caused immense embarrassment to the government. The then President APJ Abdul Kalam withheld his assent to the legislation, forcing the government to rework the Bill. This was followed by the gaffe in the government affidavit on the Rama Sethu. His fate was sealed by his rather flagrant use of the law ministry and its senior officers as instruments of Congress in major CBI cases. Each effort simply made it tougher for Congress to keep a straight face while saying it believed in clean governance.

A five-time Rajya Sabha MP, Mr Bhardwaj represents Haryana in House. Re-elected in 2006, the senior Congressman still has three more years left in his current term. However, since Congress has a majority in the Haryana assembly, retaining the seat will not prove to be a hardship for the party.