Sudurpaschim Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah on Monday expanded his Cabinet in a bid to safeguard the current government.

Province Head Dev Raj Joshi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Laxman Kishor Chaudhary of the Nagarik Unmukti Party. However, Chaudhary has not been assigned a portfolio yet.

On Friday, three other members of the same party were sworn in as ministers.

With Chaudhary’s election, the provincial government now has seven ministers, including Shah, and a state minister.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party, which has seven members in the provincial assembly, now has six ministers—including State Minister Indira Gandhi—in the province government. Likewise, the Nepali Congress has three lawmakers, including Chief Minister Shah, in office.

Shah’s government is currently in the minority after the CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) withdrew their support.

The Congress commands 18 votes in the 53-strong assembly. Similarly, the Nagrik Unmukti Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party also have 7 and one member each.

Shah is rallying for the support of the two parties, and one other Tara Prasad Joshi, an independent member.

Since six ministers have already been elected in the government, which only has seven ministries, the chief minister will have to reshuffle the Cabinet to accommodate Joshi and the RPP lawmaker into the government.