Omar Abdullah Becomes J&K UT First CM: National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah took oath as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, becoming the first CM of the Union Territory. The event took place at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.
Congress, which contested the assembly elections in alliance with the National Conference, has not joined the government. However, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi were present at Omar’s swearing-in ceremony. Congress has supported the government from outside. The party says that its fight will continue until Jammu and Kashmir gets the status of a state.
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After taking oath, Omar said that no green corridor or traffic will be blocked on the road for his vehicle. He has also requested his ministers to do the same. Omar says that he is here to serve the public, not to trouble them.
CM- Deputy CM and 4 ministers
Deputy CM Surendra Choudhary: MLA from Nowshera. In the assembly elections, he defeated Ravinder Raina, who was the state BJP president, by 7819 votes.
Minister Sakina Ittoo: MLA from DS Pora, became the youngest MLA of Jammu and Kashmir in 1996. She was then 26 years old. In 2008, she was the only woman minister from Jammu and Kashmir.
Minister Javed Rana: He is an MLA from Mendhar. He became MLA from this seat in 2002 and 2014. He has been made a minister for the first time.
Minister Javed Ahmad Dar: Won the election from Rafiabad. Became MLA for the first time.
Minister Satish Sharma: He is an independent MLA from Chhamb seat. He has supported Omar Abdullah’s National Conference. After taking oath, he raised the slogan “Jai Mata Di”.
More than 50 VIPs attended the oath taking ceremony, Kejriwal-Mamta did not come. Leaders of 6 parties including Akhilesh Yadav, Sanjay Singh among the leaders of INDIA block attended the oath taking ceremony.
Around 50 VIPs were invited including opposition leader in parliament Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal. However, Kejriwal and Mamta Banerjee did not attend the ceremony.
Congress changed its stand at the last moment, Know why did it support NC from outside?
Despite the formation of the All India Alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress has not joined Omar Abdullah’s government. No minister from the Congress has been made in Abdullah’s cabinet. That too, when Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi themselves went to Srinagar and participated in the swearing-in ceremony of the government.
This decision of Congress is now being discussed as to why the party did not give ministers from its quota in Omar cabinet? According to Congress sources, there are 4 major reasons for this-
1. For the first time in the electoral history of Jammu and Kashmir, the performance of Congress is very poor. The party has been reduced to 6 seats. In such a situation, it is being said that by not including any MLA of the party in the cabinet, the Congress high command has given a message to the local leaders to work hard on the ground.
2. Not a single Hindu MLA has won from Congress quota in Jammu and Kashmir. In such a situation, the political equations of the party were not working out. Kashmir’s Muslim vote bank has been in favour of PDP and National Conference.
3. Omar Abdullah and his party are in favour of bringing back 370. Congress is only demanding statehood. If the party had joined the government, it would have backfired politically for it in other states, that is why the party has decided not to join the government.
4. The National Conference wanted to give 1-2 ministerial posts to the Congress. The Congress leaders sitting in Delhi did not want a symbolic participation.
BJP said- Hope to establish peace
Jammu and Kashmir BJP President Ravinder Raina said- I congratulate Omar Abdullah, who has taken oath as the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. I also congratulate his Council of Ministers. I hope they will work to establish peace in Jammu and Kashmir and solve the issues faced by the public.
PDP said- Stable government after a long time
PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti said- I congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir, because they have got a stable government after a long time. It was a very difficult time for the people of Jammu and Kashmir after 5 August 2019. We hope that the government that has been formed will first heal the wounds and solve the problems and sufferings of the people.
PHOTOS OF Oath Taking Ceremony
Rajya Sabha elections to be held after government formation
After the removal of President’s rule and formation of government, elections are to be held on four Rajya Sabha seats of the state. Discussions for this have already intensified. According to the seats won in the election, two Rajya Sabha seats can go to NC-Congress alliance and one to BJP. NC President Farooq Abdullah can be sent to Rajya Sabha. Due to poor health, he had refused to contest the assembly elections.
Elections can be held on the remaining one seat. Who will get this seat in the election will be decided by the political equations of that time. The same situation was seen in 2015 as well. Then the ruling PDP-BJP got one seat each. NC then supported the Congress candidate (now leader of Democratic Progressive Azad Party) Ghulam Nabi Azad. The fourth seat came into the account of the PDP-BJP alliance after the election.
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