Jharkhand Cabinet expansion today: Eight new faces likely to be inducted in Hemant Soren’s cabinet as ministers

The Jharkhand government under Chief Minister Hemant Soren is likely to undertake its first expansion on Tuesday, with as many as eight new ministers set to be inducted into the council of ministers. The swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers is scheduled to be held at 4 PM at the Raj Bhavan in Jharkhand’s capital city of Ranchi.

The Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is expected to get the lion’s share with as many as five ministers likely to be from the party. Two other ministers are expected to be administered oath from the Congress party. The JMM and the Congress had contested elections in an alliance which also had the Rashtriya Janata Dal as a constituent. Two Congress leaders and the lone RJD MLA have already been given ministerial berths. Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers including the Chief Minister.

Soren had taken oath as the Jharkhand Chief Minister on December 29. Three other MLAs — Alamgir Alam and Rameshwar Oraon from Congress and Satyanand Bhokta of the RJD– had taken oath along with him. JMM, which does not have an MLA from his party in the Cabinet yet, had appointed Ravindra Nath Mahto as the Speaker of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

The oath ceremony, which was earlier scheduled for January 24, was deferred in view of the killings of seven tribal men in Chaibasa. CM Hemant Soren, who visited the bereaved families, met the Governor upon his return and requested that the expansion be deferred. However, some reports suggest that the Cabinet expansion had to be delayed as the Congress failed to decide its choice of MLAs to be appointed as ministers in time.

Among names of Congress MLAs doing the rounds as likely ministers include Rajendra Singh, Deepika Pandey and Banna Gupta. From the JMM quota, names likely to be inducted as ministers include Stephen Marandi, Champai Soren, Haji Hussain Ansari, Joba Manjhi, Jagannath Mahto, Deepak Birua and Mathura Prasad Mahto.