Jharkhand Cabinet Expansion: Champai Soren, 10 Others Take Oath; CM's Brother Dropped

Ranchi, July 8: Eleven ministers, including Champai Soren, took oath in the Hemant Soren cabinet in Jharkhand on Monday.

Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan administered the oath to the ministers at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan at 4 p.m.

Champai Soren, who had earlier replaced Hemant Soren as CM, is back in the cabinet. Other ministers who took oath include Congress' Dr Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta, Irfan Ansari, Deepika Pandey Singh, JMM's Mithilesh Thakur, Deepak Birua, Baidyanath Ram, Hafizul Hasan, and RJD's Satyanand Bhokta.

Notably, Hemant Soren's younger brother, Basant Soren, and Congress leader Badal Patralekh were dropped from the cabinet. Three new faces -- Dr Irfan Ansari (Congress), Deepika Pandey Singh (Congress), and Baidyanath Ram (JMM) -- have been inducted into the cabinet.

Irfan Ansari replaces former minister Alamgir Alam, who is currently in jail, while Deepika Pandey Singh replaces Badal Patralekh. Baidyanath Ram replaces Basant Soren.

Hemant Soren had taken oath as CM for the third time on July 4. His government won the trust vote in the one-day special session of the Assembly on Monday.

Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 in a money laundering case related to a land scam and had to resign as CM. He was succeeded by Champai Soren, who resigned on July 4 after Hemant Soren's release from jail on June 28.

(IANS)