Gandhinagar, February 02: Chief Minister Narendra Modi today expanded his Council of Ministers by inducting six new members, taking the strength of the ministry to 27.
Governor Kamla administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers -Liladhar Vaghela, Ranjit Gilitwala, Mohan Kundaria, Ishwarbhai Patel, Jaydrathsinh Parmar and Jitu Sukhadia- at a function in Raj Bhavan here.
All have been give the rank of Minister of State.
According to political observers, the expansion has been done with an eye on the Assembly polls due in late 2012.
This was the second expansion of Cabinet by Modi in the last five months. Before the crucial elections to the local bodies, Modi had expanded his team on August 21 and inducted four Ministers, taking its strength to 21.
–Agencies