Srinagar, Oct 27 (NVI): Four National Conference legislators — Ali Mohammad Sagar, Shameema Firdous, Mir Saifullah and Altaf Ahmad Kalloo — were inducted into the Jammu and Kashmir Council of Ministers today, marking the first expansion of the two-year-old Omar Abdullah-led government and raising its strength to 10.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to the four ministers at a ceremony held at Lok Bhawan in Srinagar.
Sagar, general secretary of National Conference, is a former minister and seven-time MLA. He was first elected to the J&K Assembly in 1983 from Batamaloo constituency of Srinagar district. He retained the seat in 1987. Later, Sagar shifted to Khanyar and won the polls from there in 1996.
Sagar won the Khanyar seat in 2024, defeating former deputy Mayor of Srinagar Sheikh Imran, who contested the polls as an independent candidate by a margin of 9912 votes.
Mir, who has represented the Kupwara constituency of north Kashmir thrice, was elected from the Trehgam seat, after delimitation, in the 2024 assembly polls.
Wani is an MLA from Pahalgam in south Kashmir while and Firdous represents Habba Kadal constituency of Srinagar district. They were sworn in as ministers for the first time.
Wani has represented Pahalgam twice, while Firdous was elected from the Habbakadal constituency here for the third time in 2024.
Firdous, who is also the president of the Women’s wing of the party, is the second woman in the Abdullah-led council of ministers after Sakina Itoo.
While Sagar took the oath in Urdu, Saifullah, Firdous and Wani took the oath in English.
Ahead of the expansion, all ministers had submitted their resignations to the chief minister yesterday.
The ceremony was attended by the chief minister, Deputy CM Surinder Chaudhary, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, NC president Farooq Abdullah, and MLAs, including from the ruling alliance and opposition PDP and BJP.
The earlier strength of the Abdullah-led cabinet was six. As per the rules, the strength of the Cabinet in a Union Territory can be up to 10 per cent of the assembly strength, which is 90 in J-K.
Meanwhile, senior National Conference leader Mubarak Gul expressed disappointment over being left out of the Cabinet expansion, saying he had attended around 30 oath-taking ceremonies but had been dropped on every occasion.
“I have attended 30 oath-taking ceremonies till now. Every time I was dropped, and today as well, I am being dropped,” Gul told reporters outside Lok Bhawan.
Newly-inducted minister Shameema Firdous expressed happiness over the opportunity given to her by the party and said she would continue to work harder.
Mir Saifullah, before his induction, thanked the National Conference leadership led by party president Farooq Abdullah and the Almighty for the opportunity.
The Cabinet expansion marks the first reshuffle of the Council of Ministers since Omar Abdullah assumed office as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 2024.
The Congress, which is an ally of the ruling NC, has refused to be part of the government until the Statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir. —(NVI)
