Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren assigned portfolios to ministers in his new cabinet on Monday, retaining control of crucial departments such as Home, Personnel, and Cabinet Secretariat.
Former Chief Minister Champai Soren was given responsibility for the Water Resources Department, as well as the Higher Education and Technical Education portfolios.
Badiyanath Ram of JMM was in charge of school education and excise.
Congress’ Deepika Pandey Singh, one of the new faces in the 12-member cabinet, was given the portfolios of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Disaster Management.
First-time minister Irfan Ansari, also of the Congress, was allotted Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Rural Works departments.
JMM’s Dipak Birua, who belongs to the Ho tribe, was assigned the SC, ST, OBC Welfare, and Transport departments.
JMM’s Bebi Devi, who won last year’s Dumri bypoll after the death of her husband and former minister Jagannath Mahto, was given the Women & Child Development, and Social Welfare portfolios.
Rameshwar Oraon of the Congress was assigned the Finance, Planning, Commercial Taxes and Parliamentary Affairs departments.
Satyanand Bhokta of the RJD got the charge of the Labour and Industries departments, while Banna Gupta of the Congress was given Health and Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs departments.
JMM MLA Hafizul Hasan got Minorities’ Welfare, Registration, Urban Development, Tourism, and Sports and Youth Affairs portfolios. His party colleague Mithilesh Kumar Thakur was given the Drinking Water and Sanitation departments.
Apart from keeping Home, Personnel and Cabinet Secretariat departments for himself, the CM retained the portfolios that were not allocated to anybody.
The new ministers took oath earlier in the day after the Hemant Soren government won a trust vote in the assembly amid a walkout by the opposition.
Mr Soren returned as the 13th chief minister of Jharkhand on July 4 after his release from jail on bail in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
He had resigned as the CM shortly before his arrest on January 31 by the Enforcement Directorate, following which Champai Soren took over.
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