The Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government expanded the cabinet on Thursday with the induction of eleven new ministers.

State Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan this afternoon.

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The cabinet now includes representation from Congress, the RJD, and the JMM, reflecting the alliance’s spectacular victory in the recent state assembly polls. Among the MLAs that took oath as ministers on Thursday, six belonged to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), four to Congress while the RJD was also given a single ministerial berth in the Soren cabinet.

JMM MLAs, Yogendra Prasad, Sudivya Kumar, Ramdas Soren, Hafizul Hasan, Deepak Birua, and Chamra Linda, were sworn in as ministers. From Congress, four MLAs, including Shilpi Neha Tirkey, Irfan Ansari, Dipika Pandey Singh, and Radha Krishna Kishore, have been inducted into the cabinet of CM Soren. RJD MLA Sanjay Prasad Yadav was also sworn in as minister in the JMM-led Mahagathbandhan government in the state.

The swearing-in ceremony commenced at noon with Protem Speaker Stephan Marandi taking the oath first. A senior JMM leader, Marandi, was appointed during the first cabinet meeting held on November 28. He will oversee the assembly’s proceedings until a permanent Speaker is elected.

The ceremony was attended by prominent leaders, including CM Soren, Congress general secretary and state in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir, and RJD national general secretary Jayparkash Narayan Yadav among others.

The cabinet appointments in the mineral-rich state reflect the power-sharing dynamics within the ruling alliance.

It may be recalled that out of a total of 81 assembly seats, the JMM won 34, Congress 16, RJD 4, and CPI-ML won two seats thus holding a comfortable majority of 56 seats.

The JMM-led alliance returned to power in November, defeating the BJP-led NDA, which won 24 seats.

Soren, who was sworn in as the chief minister on November 28, embarks on his new term in office, leading the state’s efforts toward development and governance under the alliance’s agenda. The cabinet has also announced a four-day assembly session from December 9-12. Key legislative discussions are expected during this session.