US embassy cable - 04NEWDELHI7532

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 007532 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, ELAB, IN, Indian Domestic Politics 
SUBJECT: THE GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLES THE CABINET TO SHORE UP 
THE RULING COALITION 
 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoffrey Pyatt, Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
1.  (SBU) On November 26 PM Singh announced a mini-cabinet 
shuffle, the first since the United Progressive Alliance 
(UPA) government took office over six months ago.  Looking 
ahead to state elections early next year Shibu Soren, the 
controversial chief of the regional Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 
party, returned as Minister of Coal.  The Minister of Labor 
and Employment, Sis Ram Ola, was named to head the 
newly-created Ministry of Mines.  Minister without portfolio 
and head of the regional Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) K. 
Chandrasekhara Rao was given the Labor portfolio.  The 
President swore in the three new ministers on November 27. 
Notably missing from the long anticipated cabinet reshuffle 
was the controversial Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who 
remains in place. 
 
2.  (U)  Soren was originally named to the cabinet as 
Minister of Coal when the UPA assumed power six months ago. 
However, he was forced to resign on July 24 after a court in 
his home state of Jharkhand issued a warrant for his arrest 
in a 20 year old murder case.  Soren then dropped from sight 
for several months before surrendering, spending a month in 
jail and being granted bail.  His case is still pending.  On 
November 27, BJP spokesman and General Secretary Arun Jaitley 
told reporters that his party would raise the issue of 
Soren's reinduction when Parliament convenes on December 6, 
but would not disrupt the session as it had done previously. 
 
 
Comment 
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3.  (C) Soren is accused of masterminding a "massacre" of his 
political opponents in Jharkhand twenty years ago, and many 
say he is guilty.  Even if he escapes prosecution in that 
case, he is also accused of ordering the murder of his 
personal assistant and could be arrested in that case soon. 
PM Singh has a reputation for probity and reportedly opposed 
bringing Soren into the cabinet, but felt compelled to do so 
by the pressures of coalition politics.  With Soren back on 
board, the JMM and Congress can now form an alliance in 
Jharkhand that will likely defeat the BJP government there 
and give the state to the UPA in the February 2005 elections. 
 Likewise, Rao's TRS had threatened to withdraw from the UPA 
if it did not separate Telangana from Karnataka and create a 
new state.  Rather than give in to the TRS, Congress agreed 
to set up a sub-committee to look into the issue and placated 
Rao by giving him a Cabinet portfolio. 
 
4.  (SBU) Although the Labor Ministry has oversight of our 
$20 million child labor elimination project, we do not expect 
the change of ministers to have any impact on that effort or 
other US interests in India.  The Coal Mine Safety and Health 
bilateral project will be ending in January and this shake-up 
will likely not affect its success either. 
BLAKE