Mehbooba takes oath as CM of J&K

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti took oath as the chief minister in Jammu on Monday.

After nearly three months of stalemate, the PDP-BJP government took the reins of power in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

The revival of the BJP-PDP coalition has brought an end to the Governor’s rule, which was imposed in the state after Mehbooba’s father and then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed passed away on January 7. 

The swearing-in ceremony, in which 22 ministers of Mehbooba cabinet were administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor N N Vohra in Jammu, was attended by Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Harsimrat Kaur, Jitendra Singh, opposition National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and NC working president Omar Abdullah and several other high profile BJP and PDP leaders.Twelve legislators, including Mehbooba from the PDP and 11 from the BJP and Peoples Conference alliance were sworn in as ministers. While Mehbooba would be the chief minister for the entire tenure, BJP’s Nirmal Singh will continue as the deputy chief minister.

While the Congress boycotted the ceremony like it did in 2015 when the late Mufti was sworn in, NC leaders Farooq and his son Omar attended this time as Mehbooba had personally invited them.

Separatist-turned-politician Sajjad Lone  took oath as a Cabinet minister from the BJP quota. Constitutionally, the Jammu and Kashmir council of ministers cannot have more than 25 members.

The PDP dropped two Cabinet ministers — Altaf Bukhari and Javaid Mustafa Mir — and inducted three-time legislator Zahoor Mir. The other new face brought in as a junior minister by the PDP is Farooq Andrabi, who defeated state Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir from Dooru constituency.

With the Mehbooba government taking over, the 86-day Governor’s Rule ended in the state.