Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren on Friday expanded his cabinet after eight Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress leaders took oath as ministers.
JMM leaders Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Basant Soren - JMM leader and brother of former CM Hemant Soren, Hafizul Hasan, Bebi Devi, Deepak Birua, Congress' Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh took oath as ministers.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi.
67-year-old JMM leader Champai Soren leader was sworn in as the 12th Chief Minister of the state on February 2, after his predecessor Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in a money laundering case.
Maximum 12 ministers can take oath
On the same day, two ministers -- Alamgir Alam of Congress and Satyanand Bhokta of RJD -- also took oath. According to constitutional provisions, Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the Chief Minister.
Earlier on February 5, Jharkhand’s JMM-led coalition government headed by Chief Minister Champai Soren won the vote of confidence. Forty-seven legislators voted in favour of the confidence motion in the 81-member assembly, while 29 MLAs opposed it.
JMM has most numbers in Assembly
The majority alliance has 47 MLAs -- JMM 29, Congress 17 and RJD 1 in the Jharkhand assembly. The BJP has 26 members and the AJSU Party has three. The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents. There is also one nominated member.
(With inputs from PTI)
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