Srinagar: Four new ministers were sworn in on Tuesday as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah expanded his council of ministers to its maximum permissible strength of nine.
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office to Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shameema Firdous, and Altaf Ahmad Wani (Kalloo) at Lok Bhawan in Srinagar. All four new inductees represent constituencies in the Kashmir Valley.
Sagar took his oath in Urdu, while Saifullah, Firdous, and Wani did so in English. Prior to the ceremony, all sitting ministers had submitted their resignations to the chief minister as part of the reshuffle. Sports and technical education minister Satish Sharma was the only minister dropped. Instead of including a legislator from Jammu, the NC decided to induct a legislator from Kashmir. After Sharma’s resignation, Jammu will now have only two ministers representing it in the cabinet: Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and minister Javeed Rana.
With Firdous’s induction, the council of ministers now has two women members, joining Sakina Itoo.
The expansion brings the cabinet to nine ministers along with the chief minister. Under Union Territory regulation, the council of ministers is capped at 10% of the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
Ali Mohammad Sagar: The National Conference (NC) general secretary and seven-time MLA has never lost an assembly election since winning the Batamaloo seat in 1983 and retaining it in 1987. He later shifted to Khanyar, winning in 1996 and securing the seat again in 2024 by 9,912 votes against independent candidate Sheikh Imran.
Mir Saifullah: A four-time legislator who previously represented Kupwara thrice, Saifullah won from the newly carved Trehgam constituency in the 2024 polls following delimitation.
Shameema Firdous: The president of the party’s women’s wing and a first-time minister, Firdous was elected from the Habbakadal constituency for her third term in 2024.
Altaf Ahmad Wani (Kalloo): Representing Pahalgam for his second term, Wani enters the council of ministers for the first time.
The Congress, which won six seats in alliance with the 42-seat NC, declined to join the government. Party leadership reiterated its stand that Congress will not accept cabinet berths until statehood is fully restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides Omar Abdullah, the ceremony was attended by deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, NC president Farooq Abdullah, and MLAs from both ruling and opposition parties, including the BJP and the PDP.
Mir Ehsan has reported from Kashmir for the past more than 20 years. He is an assistant editor and bureau chief of HT in Kashmir since 2018. Before that he was associated with Indian Express. He has extensively covered Kashmir politics, militancy and developmental issues. He is also a recipient of Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2005.Read More