Gandhinagar, Feb 2 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today expanded his Cabinet by inducting six new ministers, taking the ministry strength to 27.
Governor Kamla administered the oath of office to the new ministers at a function held at Raj Bhavan here.
Those who were inducted into the ministry are Liladhar Vaghela, Ranjit Gilitwala, Mohan Kundaria, Jitu Sukhadia, Ishwarbhai Patel and Jaydrathsinh Parmar.
Sukhadia is from Vadodara, Jaydrathsinh Parmar from Halol and Ishwarbhai Patel from Ankleshwar. All the three places in the central Gujarat region are considered as a stronghold of Congress.
According to experts, the cabinet expansion has been done with an eye on the state Assembly elections, due in 2012.
Kundaria is an MLA from Saurashtra belonging to powerful Patel community. To give a better representation to south Gujarat, Ranjit Gilitwala was also taken in. While Vaghela represents north Gujarat.