The appointment of former Union law minister Ashwani Kumar as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s special envoy to visit Japan with the rank of a Cabinet minister for seven days has raised eyebrows in South Block.
This kind of an appointment, and that too for just seven days, is unheard of in Indian diplomacy, sources say. The move is to prepare for the visit of Japan’s Emperor and Empress who are coming to India for the first time later this year.
Mr Kumar had to resign from the Union Cabinet in May after a raging controversy over the vetting of a draft CBI report on Coalgate by the law ministry.