Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda on Friday expanded his Cabinet by inducting nine more ministers nearly a month after he assumed office. The new ministers were administered oath of office and secrecy by governor M.O.H. Farook at Raj Bhavan at 11.25 am, taking the total strength of the cabinet to 12.
The nine ministers who were inducted include four of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), three of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and one each from the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U).
The four ministers belonging to the JMM are — Hemalal Murmu, Champai Soren, Haji Hussain Ansari and Mathura Matho. In the 12-member Cabinet, the total representation of the JMM is five, including deputy chief minister Hemant Soreen, the son of party chief Shibu Soren. The three new BJP members in the Cabinet are Baijnath Ram, Vimla Pradhan and Satyanand Jha.
The AJSU and JD-U members inducted are Chandra Prakash Chaudhary and Gopal Krishna Patar, alias Raja Peter. In Munda's Cabinet, the representation of the BJP has now gone up to four, including the chief minister.
The AJSU now has two of its members as ministers while the JD-U has one. Munda became the eighth chief minister of Jharkhand on September 11 with the support of the JMM, AJSU, JD-U and two Independents. He proved his majority on the floor of the House on September 14.
Initially, the expansion was to take place after the trust vote but it was delayed due to talks on sharing the portfolios between the allies. The state can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister.