Bharat Bhushan Ashu: Meteoric rise, hard fall

Ludhiana: Former cabinet minister and Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is facing multiple allegations in the foodgrain transport tender and CLU scams, enjoyed a meteoric rise in fortune since 1997, when he joined politics by successfully contesting elections as an independent councillor.
Ashu, whose family was traditionally into dairy farming, was elected councillor again in 2002, thanks to his large support base among the youth. Impressed, then Congress MP from Ludhiana, Gurcharan Singh Galib inducted him into the party. For Ashu, there was no looking back.
In 2007, he contested MC elections again on Congress ticket and won. By this time, he had developed strong connections within the party. He forged a close relationship with Kishori Lal, who was believed to be close to Congress’s former president Sonia Gandhi. The networking made it relatively easy for him to get the MLA ticket from Ludhiana West constituency in 2012. He delivered again, registering a landslide victory with 69,125 votes against 33,203 secured by his nearest rival. Even though Congress did not form government in the state at the time, Ashu firmly established his place among the political elite. Bolstering him was a coterie of 12 to 13 councillors and a large number of workers.
In 2017, Ashu got the Congress ticket again and again emerged victorious, securing 66,627 votes and defeating his arch rival by a margin of about 35,000 votes. By this time, Ashu had come into direct contact with Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He was sworn in as cabinet minister in April 2018 when the cabinet expansion of the Congress government took place.
The strategic proximity with the Gandhis insulated him from the turmoil that shook the party later. In September 2021, when then CM Captain Amarinder Singh was replaced with Charanjit Singh Channi and five ministers of the Amarinder Singh cabinet were chucked, Ashu was sworn in as minister again. From 2017 to 2022, he yielded immense power. However, discontent against Ashu was brewing with allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards people by Ashu and his inner circle. His aides are said to have started interfering in public disputes even at the street level. Despite allegations, Ashu did not act against his aides, all of which corroded his support base steadily. These are among the major reasons for Ashu’s defeat in these elections. The biggest setback came this August, when Vigilance booked his close associates and him in cases of corruption.