Law Minister Ashwani Kumar to push through pending legislations in Parliament

NEW DELHI: Newly appointed Law Minister Ashwani Kumar today said he would try to push through pending legislations of his ministry by consensus in Parliament, and if he fails to muster support, he will wait for "another day".

He also said that as the Law Minister, he would try to establish a "harmonious, congenial and communicative" relationship between the political executive and the higher judiciary so that the two carry can forward the "national agenda" together.

On the issue of corruption, Kumar (59) said the commitment of the UPA Government to push forward the agenda to tackle and eliminate corruption will receive priority.

"We will continue to endeavour to forge the broadest possible political consensus in favour of a credible and effective Lokpal Bill which will enable us, along with the other bills which form part of a bouquet of legislations, to check corruption," he told reporters soon after assuming charge.

Former Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who took over as the External Affairs Minister yeaterday, was present to hand over the charge to Kumar.

With four Law Ministry bills pending in Parliament in various stages, Kumar conceded these can only be pushed through "if we can harness the requisite support in Parliament. We will press forward with our attempts to get that consensus and support. Where we succeed, we will push forward that legislation, where we do not succeed we will leave to another day till we have the requisite support."

He said he sincerely hopes to be able to pursuade a large number of parliamentarians who may have reservations to support legislative measures in "overarching national interest."