President-elect Barack Obama [Images] last month appointed Elana Kagan, the dean of the Harvard Law School and a former clerk to the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, to this position.

But there was no denying that Bansal -- a partner with the New York law firm of Skadden Arps, and perhaps one of Obama's earliest Indian-American supporters -- was up for a senior level position in the Obama administration.

On Monday, on the eve of his being sworn in as the nation's 44th president, Obama appointed Bansal as General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor at the Office of Management and Budget, which one Obama transition team source told rediff.com would "be the heart of the new administration's agenda for change."

"Barack wanted her to be at the centre of the action," the source added about Bansal's appointment.

No Senate confirmation is needed for this position because it is a White House position, the source said, and pointed out that Bansal would be "based in the White House complex."

Obama, who named several others to the OMB along with Bansal, said, 'We are fortunate to have this distinguished group of individuals serving in these key posts,' and expressed his confidence that 'this team will be well-equipped to tackle the challenges ahead.'

'The Office of Management and Budget in my administration will not only design, manage and implement our budget, it will focus on cutting waste and making sure that our government is serving the American people effectively and efficiently,' Obama added.

The OMB is a cabinet-level agency within the White House that reports directly to the president and that has the capability and visibility across the entire government to take immediate policy action and execute on the president's commitments and priorities.

It is widely believed that in this critical period of economic crisis, which has been acknowledged is a recession, the OMB, will be the key centre for formulation and implementation of the new president's economic recovery plan.

Bansal's paths first crossed with Obama at the Harvard Law School. Mutual friends brought her to his presidential campaign where she served as a senior adviser. Besides being second in command in the area of immigration on the campaign's Immigration Policy Advisory Committee, she was among his advisers on international human rights, legal issues, foreign policy, women's issues, and outreach to Asian Americans.

From the time, Obama announced his intention to seek the presidential nomination, Bansal, the former solicitor general of New York, was out campaigning aggressively for him at various Asian American and South Asian American events, besides innumerable mainstream functions, writing op-eds, including in India Abroad, the newspaper owned by rediff.com as to why he would be a great president.

She also has the distinction of being the biggest Indian-American fund-raiser for the campaign, and along with Ohio's Subodh Chandra, raised over $1 million toward the Obama coffers.

During the transition, she was one of five key advisers who was assigned with selecting personnel for the new administration.

Bansal, one of the most high profile Indian Americans, was appointed by New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg last April to the city's Campaign Finance Board, and in making the announcement, Bloomberg said, 'In Preeta Bansal, the CFB is getting a first-rate legal mind who will bring a wealth of experience that will aid the Board in applying the law and ensuring the integrity of the public financing programme.'

Besides being a partner at Skadden Arps, a leading international law firm with the highest revenues of any law firm in the world, Bansal was head of its appellate litigation and complex issues practice. In addition, for the past five years, she has served as a commissioner and past chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bi-partisan Congressionally-mandated US agency.

She was appointed to the Commission by then Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, and twice reappointed by Daschle and current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

In this capacity, she has undertaken US diplomatic missions to Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia [Images], Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka [Images].

When she was the solicitor general of New York state from 1999 to 2001, she argued cases in the US Supreme Court, the Second Circuit and the New York State Court of Appeals on behalf of New York State and helped supervise more than 600 lawyers in the New York State attorney general's Office.

She received the 'Best United States Supreme Court Brief' award from the National Association of Attorneys General during every year of her tenure as New York solicitor general.

The New York Times once profiled her and described her 'as a legal superstar' while The New York Law Journal referred to her as 'one of the most gifted lawyers of her generation, who combines a brilliant analytical mind with solid, mature, judgment.'

An alumnus of the Harvard-Radcliffe College and the Harvard Law School (Class of 1989), from where she graduated magna cum laude, Bansal was also the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review, which Obama had also edited.