7 take oath as ministers in J’khand cabinet expansion

RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren expanded his cabinet on Tuesday with the inclusion of seven more ministers, taking the total strength of the council of ministers to 10.

The coalition government, led by chief minister Hemant Soren, took oath on December 29 . “Congratulations to all my colleagues on behalf of people for taking oath as ministers. This is not merely a cabinet, but Team Jharkhand which would work to accelerate the pace of development and realise the dreams of every Jharkhandi. Let’s work together for prosperity of Jharkhand and the country,” Soren tweeted, soon after the ceremony.

Five of the new ministers are from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and two belong to the Congress. Party veteran and sixterm legislator Stephen Marandi has so far not been included in the state cabinet. The council of ministers has 11 members, leaving the scope to induct one more minister.

“It’s the prerogative of the chief minister to choose his team. I have no hard feeling. I congratulate the new team and wish they work hard to deliver according to the mandate we received,” he said.

On Tuesday, Soren inducted Champai Soren, Haji Hussain Ansari, Jagarnath Mahato, Joba Manjhi, Mithilesh Kumar Thakur (all from the JMM), Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh (both from the Congress) in the cabinet.

Mahato and Thakur are firsttime ministers and Manjhi had been a minister in previous NDA governments before she joined the JMM. The other four had been ministers in the previous UPA governments.