WAJAHAT SHABIR
SRINAGAR: The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted Ministers of the Jammu & Kashmir Council of Ministers at a swearing-in ceremony held at Lok Bhavan on Tuesday.
The Lieutenant Governor administered the oath to MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Shamim Firdous, and Saifullah Mir as Ministers. There are now a total of 9 ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Surindher Choudhary, Sakina Itoo, Javid Dar and Javid Raina.
While on the other hand, Satish Sharma was excluded from the ministry.
Former minister and seven-time MLA Sagar was first elected to the J-K assembly from Batamaloo seat here in 1983. He retained the seat in 1987. Later, Sagar shifted to Khanyar and won the polls from there in 1996.
The National Conference (NC) general secretary has never lost an assembly election.
Sagar won the Khanyar seat in 2024, defeating former deputy Mayor of Srinagar Sheikh Imran, who contested the polls as an independent candidate by a margin of 9,912 votes. Mir, who has represented the Kupwara constituency of north Kashmir thrice, was elected from the Trehgam seat after delimitation in the 2024 assembly polls.
Pahalgam MLA Wani and Habbakadal MLA Firdous were sworn in as ministers for the first time. Wani has represented Pahalgam twice, while Firdous was elected from the Habbakadal constituency here for the third time in 2024.
Firdous, who is also the president of the Women’s wing of the party, is the second woman in the Abdullah-led council of ministers after Sakina Itoo. While Sagar took the oath in Urdu, Saifullah, Firdous and Wani took the oath in English. Ahead of the expansion, all ministers had submitted their resignations to the chief minister.
The ceremony was attended by Speaker, J&K Legislative Assembly Abdul Rahim Rather, JKNC President, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary, Ministers Sakeena Masood Itoo, Shri Javed Ahmed Rana, and Shri Javid Ahmad Dar, Member of Parliament Gurvinder Singh Oberoi and several other MLAs of National Conference.
JKPCC President and Congress MLA Tariq Karra, MLA Tral, and several other MLAs of political parties attended the event. However, MLA Nazir Gurezi, MLA Mian Altaf, MLA Satish Sharma were found absent from the oath ceremony. Later, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the office chambers of newly inducted Cabinet colleagues at the Civil Secretariat here to congratulate them on assuming office and extend his best wishes for their tenure.
The Chief Minister personally visited the office chambers of all the newly inducted ministers and congratulated Ali Mohammad Sagar, Saifullah Mir, Shamim Firdous and Altaf Ahmed Wani, expressing confidence that they would discharge their responsibilities with dedication and contribute to effective governance and the overall development of Jammu and Kashmir.
Emphasising the importance of collective efforts, Omar Abdullah underscored the role of the ministers in advancing the government’s developmental agenda and ensuring public welfare. He expressed hope that their experience and commitment would further strengthen the government’s efforts to fulfil the aspirations of the people. The newly inducted ministers thanked the Chief Minister for his visit and encouraging words, reaffirming their commitment to working collectively under his leadership to deliver on the promises made to the public.
Further Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Srinagar, during which several important proposals aimed at promoting balanced and equitable development across Jammu & Kashmir were taken up for consideration. The meeting was attended by all 4 new ministers.
All not well in NC: Majeed Larmi says ‘my heart is burning’, Gul supporters protest over cabinet berth
Sakina backs leadership’s decision; LoP says he will ‘wipe tears’ of those left out
WAJAHAT SHABIR
SRINAGAR: Discontent surfaced within the National Conference following the much-awaited cabinet expansion on Tuesday, with senior party leaders Abdul Majeed Larmi and Mubarak Ahmad Gul expressing displeasure over being left out of the Council of Ministers.
Anantnag West MLA Abdul Majeed Larmi said he had been on the list of probable ministers until Monday evening, expressing disappointment over his exclusion from the Cabinet. “My heart is broken (Mera dil toot gaya). I was deserving. I say it twice, I was deserving,” Larmi told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony. While saying that he respected the party leadership’s decision, Larmi said his exclusion had hurt him.
“We are human beings; we have a heart too. Our heart is sad, there is no doubt about that. I may speak to you like this, but my heart is burning from inside,” he said. Despite his disappointment, Larmi said his loyalty to the National Conference remained intact, describing himself as a soldier of the party. “I am a soldier of the party. I can go anywhere for the party,” he said.
Meanwhile, supporters of senior National Conference leader and Eidgah MLA Mubarak Ahmad Gul staged a protest at the party headquarters in the Nawa-i-Subh Complex in Srinagar, raising slogans in his favour and expressing resentment over his exclusion from the Cabinet.
The protest took place during a meeting chaired by National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, with party workers saying Gul, a senior and experienced leader, deserved a place in the Council of Ministers.
His supporters said Gul’s name had figured in the list of ministers until late Monday night but was dropped for reasons that remained unclear. A six-time MLA, Gul has represented the Eidgah constituency in 1983, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2024. He had earlier expressed disappointment over his repeated exclusion from the Cabinet, saying he had attended nearly 30 oath-taking ceremonies but had yet to be inducted as a minister.
After Gul expressed displeasure over his exclusion, Farooq Abdullah reached out to him and appointed him general secretary of the party organisation. When contacted, Gul said he would announce his next move after a week. “For now I wouldn’t say anything about it,” he said. Meanwhile, Minister Sakina Itoo welcomed the decision taken by the National Conference leadership on the Cabinet expansion, saying all party workers were equal irrespective of whether they held ministerial positions.
“Whatever decision the leadership has taken, whoever the leadership has brought in, I congratulate them and in this party all people are equal,” Itoo said. “All people work in the party and will continue to work in the party, whether one is a minister or not a minister,” she said. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said he would stand by legislators who had been left out of the Cabinet, stating that he would wipe the tears of those who missed out on ministerial berths.
Congratulating the newly inducted ministers, Sharma said they should work hard for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and focus on public issues instead of remaining caught in political disputes. “I congratulate the newly appointed ministers. They should work hard for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and come out of the political tussle the government is currently caught in to serve the common masses,” he said.
Referring to the legislators who failed to make it to the Cabinet, Sharma said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should address their disappointment. “I will wipe their tears, but it is Omar Sahab’s responsibility to wipe those tears. We will also wipe them,” he said. Asked about reports of differences within the government and whether it would fall, Sharma urged people to exercise patience, saying barely an hour had passed since the swearing-in ceremony.
“Have patience, don’t be in a hurry,” he added.
