Owais Gul
Srinagar, Oct 15: Stage is all set for high profile swearing in ceremony of Jammu and Kashmir UT’s first Chief Minister and the council of ministers at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar today (Wednesday).
National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah will be sworn in as the first CM of J&K UT while there is a possibility that eight to nine ministers will also be administered the oath by the J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
Reliable sources said that while Omar will take oath as the first CM of the UT, those who would be sworn in as the ministers include Sakina Itoo, the woman face of NC, Justice (Rtd) Hasnain Masoodi, Abdul Rahim Rather, Ali Muhammad Sagar while as Jammu region will also be given representation in the form of Javaid Rana, Surinder Chouhdary and Satish Sharma. Sources said from the Congress which is the alliance partner of NC, J&K PCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra may be included in the council of ministers as well. This way, there will be eight ministers in the Omar led cabinet.
It may be recalled that Omar had staked claim on government formation after presenting the letters of support to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday. Omar presented the letters of support from 42 MLAs of NC, four independents, six Congress legislators and one CPI(M).
On Sunday, President Droupadi Murmu issued a notification revoking the president’s rule in J&K and paving way for the elected government to take the reins of J&K. On Monday, LG Sinha invited Omar for government formation on October 16. LG conveyed his decision by sending his Principal Secretary to Omar’s Gupkar residence.
Omar was unanimously elected the leader of the NC Legislature Party on Thursday, setting the stage for his second term as chief minister. His first term, from 2009 to 2014 when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, was also under an NC-Congress coalition Government.
Meanwhile, after the culmination of the swearing-in ceremony, the chief minister will be chairing a meeting of all Administrative Secretaries on 16-10-2024 (Wednesday) at 03:00 PM in the Meeting Hall, 3rd Floor, Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, a document available with KNO reads.
Accordingly, all the Administrative Secretaries are requested to kindly attend the meeting on the scheduled date, time and venue.
