Srinagar, Oct 27 Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday expanded his council of ministers with the induction of four new faces from the Kashmir valley, triggering widespread internal discontent and protests within the ruling party, even as opposition BJP hit out at the government over a “regional and cultural imbalance”.
The discontent was most evident outside the high-security Tulsi Bagh residence of senior National Conference (NC) leader and Eidgah MLA Mubarak Gul, where scores of constituents and party workers staged protests after his name was omitted from the cabinet list.
Agitated supporters urged the veteran politician to resign from the party if he was not accommodated in the council of ministers.
Speaking to reporters about the growing resentment among his supporters, Gul admitted that his cadres were pushing him to sever his five-decade-old ties with the party.
“My workers and constituents are very agitated and they want me to resign from the party over the treatment that was meted out to me. I have been with the party for 50 years and this is how they treat me. I am trying to pacify my people,” Gul said.
Earlier, ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, the six-time MLA had expressed his dismay over the repeated omission. “I will speak at an appropriate time. I have attended 20 oath ceremonies and every time I have been dropped. You can say I have been dropped again,” he told reporters.
There are reports suggesting that Gul may announce his future course of action in some days.
The cabinet expansion saw four NC leaders, veteran politician Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shameema Firdous, and Altaf Ahmad Wani (Kalloo), being administered the oath of office by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha at Lok Bhawan here.
With all four inductees hailing from Kashmir, the expansion has shifted the balance of the cabinet in the two-year-old government heavily towards the valley. Seven ministers in the now nine-member council hail from Kashmir, while Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chaudhary and Javaid Rana remain the only two representatives from the Jammu region.
Independent MLA from Chhamb, Satish Sharma, was dropped from the cabinet to accommodate the new inductees. Ahead of the exercise, all ministers had formally submitted their resignations to facilitate the reshuffle. The maximum allowed strength of the JK council of ministers is nine, adhering to the statutory 10 per cent limit of the 90-member Assembly of a Union Territory.
In a swift bid to contain mounting resentment after protests also erupted outside party headquarters Nawa-e-Subah, NC President Farooq Abdullah announced appointment of Gul as the party’s new general secretary, replacing Sagar, who joined the cabinet.
“Party President Dr Farooq Abdullah sb today nominated senior party leader, MLA Idgah Mubarak Gul Sb as party’s new General Secretary. Wishing Gul sb all the very best,” NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar posted on X, a move seen as aimed to address the discontent within the party.
Commenting on the reshuffle, Farooq Abdullah termed it as “very good cabinet change” and expressed hope that the ministers will work and try to ease the difficulties and problems of the people.
However, discontent simmered elsewhere in the party ranks. Senior leader Abdul Majid Bhat Larmi admitted feeling hurt at being left out.
“After all, we are human beings. The heart naturally feels hurt — there is no doubt about that. Here I am talking to you, but from inside, my heart is burning,” an emotional Larmi said, adding that he accepted the leadership’s decision.
The expansion also drew sharp criticism from the BJP, with Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma accusing the Omar Abdullah-led government of creating a regional divide.
“This is the first time that there is a regional and cultural imbalance,” Sharma told reporters, adding “governments have to take every community, region, and area along. Today, that was nowhere to be seen”.
Meanwhile, coalition ally Congress opted to remain outside the government and JKPCC president Tariq Hamid Karra reaffirmed his party’s stance, saying that the Congress will not join the council of ministers until statehood is fully restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
“Talks between us (NC-JKPCC) continued in this regard; whenever there was talk of expansion, contact was established with us. We once again reiterated our stand, the stated stand, the principled stand, and told them that Congress has already decided that we will not become part of it,” Karra said.
Among the new inductees, Sagar, a seven-time MLA who took his oath in Urdu, has never lost an Assembly election since his debut in 1983. Saifullah, who won from Trehgam post-delimitation in 2024, alongside first-time ministers Wani (Pahalgam) and Firdous (Habbakadal), took their oath in English.
Firdous, who heads the NC’s women’s wing, becomes the second woman minister in the cabinet alongside Sakina Itoo.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, senior alliance leaders, and opposition MLAs from both the BJP and PDP. Satish Sharma remained absent from the ceremony.
(PTI News)
