Patna: Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav today (Sep 14, 2004) came out strongly in support of beleaguered JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) president Sibu Soren saying since Soren had been enlarged on bail he could be rehabilitated in the Union Cabinet.

Soren, the former Coal Minister, has staked claim to the ministerial berth he had to quit after a Jharkhand court issued non-bailable arrest warrant against him in a rioting case

The law of the land says that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Sibu Soren has not been convicted as yet and he is on bail. So there is no reason why he cannot be re-inducted into the Union Cabinet, Laloo told a press conference.

Prasad, who heads the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal), an ally of the JMM in Jharkhand, said he had no objection to even BJP leader Uma Bharti being reinstalled as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after a Karnataka court dropped criminal charges against her.

The law is equal for everybody. Both Soren and Bharti have not been convicted and so they are eligible to be rehabilitated, he said.

While seeking to be rehabilitated as Union Minister Soren had yesterday (Sep 13, 2004) told the media in Delhi that he wanted his ministerial berth back as all cases against him were politically motivated and that he had secured bail in all of them.