A day after its first anniversary celebrations, the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was expanded on Tuesday with the induction of Rajesh Dharmani and Yadvinder Goma as cabinet ministers.

Sukhu said efforts have been made to balance the caste and region and the lone Congress MLA from Mandi district, Chandershekher, would be accommodated soon. One ministerial berth in the cabinet is still vacant and will be filled soon, the chief minister told reporters. He also indicated reshuffling in portfolios of ministers. With this, the cabinet's strength has now increased to 11.

Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla administered the oath of office to the newly inducted ministers at a ceremony at the Raj Bhawan in the presence of Chief Minister Sukhu and other cabinet ministers. The governor, who was in Delhi, reached Shimla on Tuesday for the oath ceremony.

Dharmani (51) is a former chief parliamentary secretary and a three-time MLA from Ghumarwin, while Goma (37) is a two-time legislator from Jaisinghpur. Both the leaders hold engineering and MBA degrees. 

After the swearing-in of Chief Minister Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on December 11 last year, the cabinet was expanded on January 8 with the induction of seven cabinet ministers.
With the inclusion of Dharmani, Bilaspur district has got representation in the government while through Goma, the under-represented Kangra district with 10 Congress MLAs has got one more minister.
The total strength of the Himachal cabinet is 12 and one berth is still vacant, while the election of the deputy speaker of the state assembly is pending. Chief Minister Sukhu had also appointed six chief parliamentary secretaries, ahead of first expansion in January.

After the latest expansion, the cabinet consists of five ministers from the Rajput community, including the chief minister, two from Brahmin including the deputy CM, two from scheduled castes, and one each from other backward classes and scheduled tribe.