On Wednesday, Omar Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference, took the oath of office as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ushering in the Union Territory’s first government in six years. Deputy chairman Minister Surinder Singh Choudhary, an independent MLA from Nowshera who defeated J&K BJP chairman Ravinder Raina in the Assembly polls, will represent Jammu in the next administration.
At the swearing-in ceremony at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath to Omar Abdullah. Several opposition leaders, including Congressmen Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, were present.
The five MLAs that took the oath of office were: Independent Satish Sharma; National Conference members Sakina Itoo, Javid Dar, Sunrinder Chowdhury, and Javid Rana.
Omar Abdullah is the Chief Minister for the second time, and the first to hold the position following the repeal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the state’s conversion to a Union Territory in 2019.
From 2009 till 2014, he was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a state administered by the National Conference-Congress coalition.
With the demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, Jammu and Kashmir Congress chairman Tariq Hameed Karra announced that the party, which secured six seats in the Assembly elections, would not be joining the Cabinet just yet.
“At this time, the Congress will not be joining the Ministry in the government of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood should be restored, as the Congress has vehemently demanded of the federal government. Furthermore, the Prime Minister had often made the same pledge in open forums,” Karra remarked.
Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood hasn’t been reinstated, though. We are not joining the ministry at this time because we are unhappy. The Congress will keep pushing for the return of statehood,” he said.
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