When asked about the fuel conversion project, the electricity minister, Mr. Samaraie, said only minor issues stood in the way of a return to burning crude at the plant.

But in a sign of the difficulties the former electricity minister faces, the official added, "I suspect that Aiham Alsammarae is a crook."

The electricity minister, Mohsen Shlash, said he was not sure if it was an insurgent attack; guerrillas have sabotaged electrical lines before.

He is first electricity minister of any state in Indian history to electrify a district completely.

When he was the electricity minister, he introduced 'Light Revolution' which brought electricity to a massive number of households.

One notable example was Aiham al-Samarraie, the former electricity minister, who claimed months ago that he was talking to several insurgent groups.

The oil minister was not on this trip and was unavailable for comment, but Muhsin Shlash, the electricity minister, did come along.

Perhaps no one has absorbed this lesson more forcefully than Aiham Alsammarae, the electricity minister, who is running as a prominent member of the Independent Democrats ticket.

The participants were loosely associated with a former electricity minister, Ayham al-Samarrai, but have since broken with him.

"Now Baghdad is almost isolated," Karim Wahid, the Iraqi electricity minister, said in an interview last week.