Chandigarh was a little disappointed last week when it did not find its elected representative on the first list of Cabinet ministers in the 15th Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Team-B, announced on Wednesday, however, brought the smiles back. Cabinet Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, the hat-trick man from Chandigarh, will take the oath of office during the second round of swearing-in at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday.

The portfolio to be assigned to him is yet to be announced. Bansal was the Minister of State for Finance and Parliamentary Affairs in the last government at the Centre.

As the news of Bansal’s getting a Cabinet berth spread in Chandigarh, people started pouring in to his residence in Sector 28 in large numbers. Congress leaders and workers burst crackers, dancing to the beats of dhol. With Bansal already in Delhi, his family members received the congratulatory messages.

Talking to Newsline from Delhi, Bansal said: “It is an important task and I am grateful for the responsibility. I would work to live up to the faith that the party and its leadership has shown in me.”

Having been elected an MP for the fourth time from the city, Bansal’s inclusion in the Cabinet had been a much-awaited decision for the Chandigarh Congress. He won his first Parliamentary election from the city in 1991 and repeated the feat three times in a row in 1999, 2004 and 2009.

Bansal has held various other responsibilities during his political career spanning three decades. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1990. Among other charges held by him, Bansal was the chairman of the committee looking into the cash-for-query scam in 2005.

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