Omar Abdullah government takes oath in Kashmir; no Congress and CPM ministers

NEW DELHI: Omar Abdullah of the National Conference has sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Surender Chaudhary from Nowshera, who represents the Jammu region, is the deputy chief minister. National Conference's Sakina Itoo, Javed Ahmed Rana, Javed Ahmad Dar and Independent MLA Satish Sharma were also sworn in as ministers.

There are no Congress and CPM representatives in the cabinet. Congress has decided not to join the cabinet for the time being. CPM MLA Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami is likely to be inducted into the cabinet later. Omar arrived at the swearing-in ceremony after paying homage to his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah at his tomb in Srinagar. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy at a ceremony held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.

Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, Omar's father and NC leader Farooq Abdullah, CPM leader Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary D Raja, NCP's Sharad Pawar faction leader Supriya Sule and DMK leader Kanimozhi were among those present.

Dont disrupt traffic

After taking over as chief minister, Omar instructed the police not to disturb the people by disrupting road traffic for himself and his ministers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave best wishes to Omar. The Prime Minister said that he will work closely with the state government for the development of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dispute in Congress?

There are indications that the Congress party has come to the decision not to join the cabinet for the time being as there was a dispute among the six MLAs over the three ministerial berths that the Congress is likely to get. However, JKPCC president Tariq Hameed Karra said that Congress would consider joining the cabinet after the restoration of statehood. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said there was no difference of opinion with the Congress over cabinet formation and clarified that Congress can join the government at any time and the seats will be kept vacant.