Hemant Soren to expand cabinet Sunday

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will expand his cabinet Sunday and he is likely to induct six ministers.

According to a Raj Bhawan official, the swearing-in ceremony will take place at 11 a.m.

Of the six ministers, four will be from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and one each from the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The four JMM legislators likely to take the oath of office are Haji Hussain Ansari, Jai Prakash Bhai Patel, Simon Marandi and Champai Soren. Geetashree Oraon of the Congress and Suresh Paswan of the RJD are also likely to be sworn in.

Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister. As per their understanding, the JMM and the Congress will each get five berths in the cabinet while two will go to the RJD. At present, the chief minister is from JMM while the Congress and the RJD have one minister each in the cabinet.

With the Congress finalising only Oraon's name, the remaining three ministers from the party will be inducted in the second phase of the cabinet expansion.

Hemant Soren became chief minister July 13 and won the trust vote July 18.