Jharkhand State Cabinet Expanded;Six New Ministers Inducted

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on 4 August 2013 expanded his cabinet by inducting six new ministers. Governor Syed Ahmed administered the oath to all the new ministers at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi. The newly inducted ministers are Champai Soren, Simon Marandi, Hazi Hussan Ansari, Jaiprakash Bhai Patel (all JMM), Suresh Paswan (RJD) and Geetashree Oraon (Congress). With today's expansion, the Chief Minister now has nine ministers in his council. As per the constitutional provision he can have a maximum of 12 ministers including himself.

As per the ruling coalition understanding, the JMM and the Congress will each get five berths in the cabinet while two will go to the RJD. Hence the remaining three more Cabinet vacancies are likely to be filled from the Congress party once their names are cleared from the party High Command. JMM leader Hemant Soren became Chief Minister on 13 July 2013 and won the trust vote on 18 July 2013.