Seven Congress MLAs from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly took oath as ministers on Sunday morning as Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expanded his Cabinet, PTI reported. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered oaths to the MLAs at the Raj Bhavan in Shimla.

The newly-inducted ministers are Dhani Ram Shandil, Chander Kumar, Harshwardhan Chauhan, Jagat Singh Negi, Rohit Thakur, Anirudh Singh and Vikramaditya Singh. With their induction, the total strength of Sukhu’s Cabinet has risen to nine.

Sukhu took oath as the 15th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh on December 11. Congress leader Mukesh Agnihotri was appointed as his deputy.

The Congress had won the state Assembly elections in December, securing 40 out of 68 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 25 seats, while Independent candidates secured victories in the remaining three constituencies.

Till now, Sukhu has kept with himself Finance, General Administration, Home, Planning, and Personnel departments with himself, while Agnihotri took charge of the Jal Shakti, Transport and Language, Arts and Culture departments, reported The Indian Express.

The portfolios for the newly-inducted Cabinet members have not been announced yet.