Ranchi, Sep 24 (IANS) In his first cabinet expansion, Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda Sunday inducted four more ministers.

The ministers inducted are Sudhir Mahto, Nalin Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Jobha Manjhi and Bandu Tirkey of the United Goan Democratic Party (UGDP). This takes the total strength of the ministry to eight.

Governor Syed Sibte Razi administered the oath in the Raj Bhavan Sunday afternoon.

Four more ministers are to be inducted later. Jharkhand can have only 12 ministers including the chief minister.

The cabinet expansion has been done after consultation with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other parties.

Chief Minister Madhu Koda is grappling with the problem of keeping alliance partners happy. His first job is to ensure that the independent legislators are given a place in the cabinet.

Seven ministers, including Koda, are either independent or come from the smaller parties. The two major supporting parties, Congress and RJD - with nine and seven legislators respectively -, decided to keep away from the cabinet. The JMM, which has 17 legislators, has been given two berths in the cabinet.

Koda took oath as chief minister along with three ministers on Sep 18 and proved his majority in the house on Sep 20. He approached Congress president Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Yadav to request that their parties participate in the government. However, they merely assured him outside support.

Independent legislator Stephen Marandi is keen to become speaker, which has been left for the Congress.

Koda still has a major problem on hand - the distribution of portfolios. Talks are on about work allocation.