As four ministers took the oath of office in the much-awaited cabinet expansion in the Union Territory on Tuesday, seniority appears to have been a criterion for newly inducted ministers. Amid celebrations and heartburn within the ruling National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah chose the old guard to induct into his cabinet. But those left out made their annoyance public. One MLA even broke down for not being inducted into the cabinet.
Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shamima Firdous and Altaf Ahmad Kaloo have been inducted into the cabinet taking the total strength of ministers, including the Chief Minister, to nine.
He has also served as a minister in the past. With the induction of Shameema Firdous, there are now two women ministers in Omar Abdullah’s government. Altaf Kaloo, MLA from Pahalgam, is also a three-time legislator. So far, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been holding the charge of multiple departments including General Administration, Finance, Tourism, Power, Urban Development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Revenue and Information. Most of these departments will likely be given to the newly inducted ministers. Jammu region will be represented by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Javid Ahmad Rana from Poonch. All four new inductees represent constituencies in the Kashmir Valley. Prior to the ceremony, all sitting ministers had submitted their resignations to the chief minister as part of the reshuffle. Sports and technical education minister Satish Sharma was the only minister dropped. Instead of including a legislator from Jammu, the NC decided to induct a legislator from Kashmir. After Sharma’s resignation, Jammu will now have only two ministers representing it in the cabinet: Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and minister Javeed Rana.
Sagar (67) has served as a minister in the Farooq Abdullah government between (1996-2002) and in the Omar Abdullah government between 2009-2014. He has been winning elections since 1984 from Srinagar. Mir Saifullah is an MLA from Kupwara who was first elected as MLA in 1996. Earlier reporting noted: Omar Abdullah expands J&K cabinet with 4 Kashmir MLAs; Congress opts out Srinagar: Four new ministers were sworn in on Tuesday as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah expanded his council of ministers to its maximum permissible strength of nine.
Portfolios of some of the ministers are also to be changed, sources said.
Earlier reporting noted: Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office to Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shameema Firdous, and Altaf Ahmad Wani (Kalloo) at Lok Bhawan in Srinagar. Earlier reporting noted: Sagar took his oath in Urdu, while Saifullah, Firdous, and Wani did so in English.
