Omar Abdullah took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, as head of the first elected government in the Union Territory since Article 370 was abolished in 2019.
His party, the National Conference who won the recently held elections in J&K, appointed MLA Surinder Singh Choudhary as his deputy, who emerged as a giantkiller after defeating state BJP chief Ravinder Raina. Surinder was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister, giving representation to Jammu in the new government.
The Congress opted out of the new Cabinet for now, citing its demand for statehood for Jammu and Kashmir, as promised by the Centre, and said it would continue to fight for it.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath to Omar Abdullah at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar on the banks of the famous Dal Lake. The ceremony was attended by senior leaders of the INDIA bloc including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s Kanimozhi and NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule.
Five MLAs took oath at the ceremony – Satish Sharma (Independent), Sakina Itoo, Javid Dar, Surinder Singh Choudhary and Javid Rana (all from the National Conference). Four Cabinet posts remain vacant and will be filled once the expansion takes place.
This is Omar Abdullah’s second stint as Chief Minister, and he is the first to take office after the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the erstwhile state becoming a Union Territory in 2019. Ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, Omar Abdullah paid tributes at the mausoleum of National Conference founder and his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah.
Omar Abdullah served as the Chief Minister from 2009 to 2014 when Jammu and Kashmir, then a state, was ruled by the National Conference-Congress alliance.
CONGRESS SAYS WON’T JOIN CABINET FOR NOW
Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said the party, which won six seats in the Assembly polls, would not join the Cabinet for now citing the demand for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
“The Congress is not joining the ministry in Jammu and Kashmir government at the moment. The Congress has strongly demanded from the Centre to restore Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, the Prime Minister, has time and again, promised the same in public meetings,” Karra said.
“But, statehood has not been restored to Jammu and Kashmir. We are unhappy and therefore, we are not joining the ministry at the moment. The Congress shall continue to fight for restoration of statehood,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Omar Abdullah dismissed any rift between the National Conference and Congress, saying the grand old party would not be part of the Cabinet for now. He clarified that he would not fill all nine vacancies in the Cabinet.
His remarks came amid reports that discussions are ongoing within the Congress about whether the party would support the National Conference as part of the government or from outside as an ally.
“I will not be filling all nine vacancies in the council of ministers. Some vacancies will be kept open as we are in talks with Congress,” he said.
In the September-October Assembly polls held after a decade, the National Conference-Congress alliance won 48 of 90 Assembly seats. The National Conference emerged as the single largest party, winning 42 seats and the Congress got six.
