VZCZCXRO8475
OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHNE #7338/01 2971427
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 241427Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9851
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4101
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7509
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 7590
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0600
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 8238
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0271
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3947
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 6887
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 6944
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 5737
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 3115
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 6172
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 3732
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2645
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 4957
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMFISS/HQ USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 007338 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INS, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2016 
TAGS: PGOV INR PINR IN
SUBJECT: PRANAB MUKHERJEE NAMED INDIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
MINISTER 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Ted Osius for reasons 1.4 (B,D) 
 
¶1. (C) After much delay, Prime Minister Singh named Pranab 
Kumar Mukherjee to fill the External Affairs Minster slot 
vacated by the departure of K. Natwar Singh in December 2005. 
 PM Singh has been acting as MEA Minister since K. Natwar 
Singh's exit under a cloud for his alleged role in the oil 
for food scandal (reftel).  The naming of Mukherjee confirms 
that Natwar will not be back.  See Paragraphs 3-9 for a 
biography of Mukherjee. 
 
¶2. (C) Mukherjee, long one of the most senior and experienced 
of Congress Party leaders, is extremely ambitious and 
considers himself the heir apparent to replace PM Manmohan 
Singh when he departs.  Mukherjee already acts as the 
de-facto Deputy Prime Minister and has the confidence of 
Party President Sonia Gandhi and other leaders, although they 
remain suspicious of him, and do not want to provide him with 
an opportunity to push Manmohan Singh aside.  Reports 
indicate that Mukherjee has not been comfortable with the 
possibility of being named MEA Minister, for fear that it 
would diminish his domestic political clout.  His new 
position requires Mukherjee to travel out of the country, 
reducing the amount of time he can devote to cultivating his 
domestic stronghold in West Bengal. 
 
------------------------------- 
Senior Congress Strategist and Pro Indo-US ties 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (68) is one of the Congress 
Party's most highly regarded stalwarts and strategists, and 
has long been a close advisor to Sonia Gandhi.  Although 
technically, his portfolio as Defense Minister fell behind 
that of the Home Affairs portfolio, occupied by Shivraj 
Patil, Mukherjee has long been regarded by most political 
insiders as the most senior figure in the UPA Cabinet, whose 
long-standing ambition to become Prime Minister is common 
knowledge.  Mukherjee is frequently tagged in the press as 
the country's at times de-facto Prime Minister, as he chairs 
Cabinet meetings in the Prime Minister's absence. 
 
¶4. (C) After the Congress electoral victory of 2004, he was 
originally slated to become the Home Minister, but was given 
Defense to prevent him from challenging PM Singh's leadership 
and to give Singh sufficient breathing space to develop into 
an effective Prime Minister.  He was elected to the Lok Sabha 
from West Bengal in the 2004 national elections with support 
from the state's ruling Communists, with whom he maintains 
close ties.  As a Bengali, he shares the same ethnicity as 
much of the leadership of the Communist Party of India 
(Marxist), West Bengal's ruling party.  With the CPI(M) 
firmly in control in the state, Mukherjee is well-aware that 
he cannot nurture his constituency or rise to greater stature 
without Communist backing and assent.  In any case, Mukherjee 
belongs to the Left wing of the Congress and his personal 
ideology overlaps with that of the Communists in many areas. 
Known to be on amiable terms with the CPI(M), Mukherjee acts 
as the unofficial liaison between Congress and the Left Front 
parties to smooth out problems in the relationship and ensure 
Left Front support for the UPA. A Congress Working Committee 
member, he has favored stronger ties with the US, including 
more economic and trade cooperation. 
 
¶5. (U) Mukherjee,s experience in government has been 
 
NEW DELHI 00007338  002 OF 002 
 
 
primarily in the economic area.  In 2000-2001, he chaired the 
Congress party Economic Affairs Department and was President 
of its West Bengal unit.  He served as Minister for Finance 
and Commerce (1993-95) in the Narasimha Rao government and 
Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (1991-93). 
Working closely with the late PM Indira Gandhi, he presented 
three consecutive union budgets (1982, 1983 and 1984) as 
Finance Minister, which prompted New York-based EuroMoney 
magazine at that time to rate him &one of the most 
innovative finance ministers of the world.8 
 
¶6. (C) Lacking military experience, Mukherjee relied heavily 
on advisors for counsel on strategic and operational issues 
confronting the country's armed forces.  He appears very 
supportive on the growing number of joint U.S.-India military 
exercises, exchanges, conferences, and training.  In a 
December 9, 2004 meeting with Secretary Rumsfeld Mukherjee 
stated his desire to diversify India's arms supply, but 
raised concerns about the slowness of the U.S. arms licensing 
process. 
 
----------------------------- 
A Momentary Break with Congress 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) After the assassination of his mentor Indira Gandhi 
in 1984, Mukherjee failed to maintain good relations with her 
son and successor Rajiv Gandhi, who expelled him from 
Congress in 1986, reportedly for showing too much ambition. 
In response, the frustrated Mukherjee launched his own party 
(the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress Party) in 1987, but it 
failed to win a single seat when it contested the West Bengal 
Assembly elections in 1987.  Rajiv Gandhi took him back into 
Congress in 1988, considering his exit a brief aberration 
from a long career dedicated to the party. 
 
-------------------- 
Personal Background 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Born into a middle-class freedom fighter's family on 
December 11, 1935 in West Bengal, Mukherjee has a Law degree 
and Masters degrees in History and Political Science from 
Vidyasagar College in Calcutta.  After a brief career as a 
lecturer and a journalist, Mukherjee entered politics, 
joining the Bengali Congress in 1966, and soon switched to 
the main Congress party.  Elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1969 
and in 1975, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from 
Gujarat in 1980 and joined Indira Gandhi's Cabinet as 
Minister for Commerce (1980-82).  Mukherjee was named to the 
Finance portfolio with additional charge of Commerce and 
Supply in 1982. 
 
¶9. (SBU) A devout upper caste Hindu Brahmin, Mukherjee and 
his wife Subhra have two sons and one daughter.  The author 
of a book, Emerging Dimensions of Indian Economy (1984), he 
regularly contributes articles to Indian newspapers and 
journals on the Indian economy and politics.  He speaks 
English, Hindi and Bengali.  He is soft spoken and 
articulate, but speaks English with a heavy Bengali accent 
that can be difficult for Americans to understand. 
PYATT