Omar's Oath-Taking: 3 Ministers Each From Kashmir And Jammu Regions, No Slot For Congress

National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, followed by five of his ministers. Surinder Kumar Choudhary took oath as his Deputy Chief Minister.

The Congress sat out of the government, for now. The NC and the Congress were in a pre-poll alliance, winning 48 of the 90 seats in the assembly. Abdullah’s party got the lion’s share of 42 seats. There have been reports that the Congress was offered just one cabinet berth, and that they refused the offer. Abdullah, however, said minutes before his oath that all was well in the alliance. Abdullah said later that three more vacant slots remain in his ministry, and they will be filled up over the next few weeks.

Along with Abdullah and Choudhary, four others took oath as ministers in the J&K Cabinet. Three of the total six ministers, including Abdullah, are from the Kashmir region, while the other three are from Jammu.

Ministers Who Took Oath In J&K’s Cabinet

In addition to Omar Abdullah and Surinder Kumar Choudhary, the list of ministers who took oath included Javed Ahmed Rana, Sakina Itoo, Satish Sharma and Javed Ahmed Dar. While Abdullah, Itoo and Dar are from the Kashmir valley, Rana, Choudhary and Sharma are from the Jammu region.

• Surinder Kumar Choudhary defeated BJP state chief Ravinder Raina in Nowshera.
• Javed Ahmed Rana defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Murtaza Ahmed Khan in Mendhar.
• Sakeena Itoo defeated Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) Gulzar Ahmad Dar in DH Pora.
• Satish Sharma, an independent candidate, defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Rajeev Sharma in Chhamb.
• Javed Ahmed Dar defeated Apni Party’s (JKAP) Yawar Ahamd Mir.

Key Election

This was the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir in 10 years. The erstwhile state was made a Union Territory with a legislative assembly in an August 2019 move by the Centre, which also abrogated Article 370 that gave J&K a special status. The Congress-NC alliance secured a big victory, and won all eight seats in Srinagar. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with 29 seats, did well in Jammu region.

Even amid murmurs of a rift between the NC and the Congress, Abdullah said: “Congress is not out of the cabinet. It’s for them to decide, and we have been in discussions with them, around the fact that, as a Union Territory, with a uni-cameral house. We don’t have an upper house, therefore, the size of the government is severely restricted.” Congress leaders who came for his swearing in, too, said they were no fissures in their unity.

INDIA Bloc Leaders Spotted

Top leaders of the INDIA bloc, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi of the Congress, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Part, K Kanimozhi of DMK and Supriya Sule, were spotted in the swearing-in ceremony of Abdullah, which was held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.

In a post on X, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) shared a group picture of all those who had arrived.

This was the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir in 10 years. The erstwhile state was made a Union Territory with a legislative assembly in an August 2019 move by the Centre, which also abrogated Article 370 that gave J&K a special status. The Congress-NC alliance secured a big victory, and won all eight seats in Srinagar.