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Soren wants his Cabinet job back

Dropped minister to meet PM

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Our Political Bureau New Delhi
Last Updated : Jan 28 2013 | 12:57 PM IST
Sensing that a reshuffle was round the corner, former Union Coal Minister Sibu Soren on Monday demanded that he should be taken back into the Cabinet.
 
"I want my ministerial berth back. I am not going to go back on my stand as all cases against me are politically motivated and they will not spoil my chances to get back into the ministry," he told reporters after emerging from the courtroom where he appeared in connection with the Sashinath Jha murder case.
 
Soren, who was flanked by his lawyers, said he would also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard.
 
Claiming support of people in Jharkhand, Soren said legislators need to see if changes were required in law so that politicians like him who were "falsely implicated in politically motivated cases" could continue in the government and serve people.
 
"Whatever I have done is for my people. Laws should not come in between me and my people. I want to serve them," said the man who is known for his mass base among tribals and for launching popular movements against practices that have threatened tribal identity like dowry.
 
Soren also said he would go back to Jharkhand soon and start a "padyatra" to mobilise support for his party in the Assembly election early next year.
 
He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was raking up cases against him and claimed that Uma Bharti's "tiranga yatra" and the saffron party's "mandir-based campaigning" would fail in Jharkhand.
 
"People are dying of starvation and disease in Jharkhand. What they want is development and not religion. I will never allow the BJP to convert Jharkhand into another Gujarat," he said.
 
Soren said his party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), would continue its alliance with the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left parties in the state elections. The JMM, which has deep support base among tribals, forms a formidable combination with the Congress and the RJD.
 
According to JMM sources, all these parties have decided to contest the Assembly election in the state under his leadership and project him as the chief ministerial candidate.
 
However, a section in the Congress has some reservations about contesting elections under the JMM leadership. These leaders feel the JMM would try to capture the lion's share in case of an alliance and that would affect the Congress ibn the long run.
 
Soren had to quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government following a non-bailable warrant issued against him by a Jharkhand court in the Chirrudih massacre case.
 
Soren, who went into hiding following the issue of the warrant and the Opposition demanding his removal, later surrendered in the court and was in the judicial custody.

 

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First Published: Sep 14 2004 | 12:00 AM IST

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