Amid celebrations and heartburn within the ruling National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah chose the old guard to induct into his cabinet. 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. 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.
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. 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.
The induction of these four new ministers has given representation across central, north, and south Kashmir. The Jammu region has been left with just two ministers as the ruling National Conference has not won any seats from the plains of Jammu.
Jammu and Kashmir assembly has 90 MLAs. Omar Abdullah walked a tightrope because of the constitutional ceiling on the size of the Council of Ministers. Under section 53 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Council of Ministers cannot exceed 10 per cent of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly.
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. Portfolios of some of the ministers are also to be changed, sources said.
Jammu region will be represented by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Javid Ahmad Rana from Poonch.
