M A I N   N E W S

22 join Mufti ministry
Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 14
Amidst protests by those left out, the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, today expanded his over two-month-old PDP-Congress coalition ministry by inducting 22 new ministers. The Governor, Mr G.C. Saxena, administered the oath of office to the new ministers.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed and Jammu and Kashmir PCC president Ghulam Nabi Azad greet each other after swearing-in ceremony in Jammu on Tuesday. — PTI photo

With the expansion, the Congress has got a lion’s share in the 29-member PDP-led ministry. This is perhaps for the first time in the past couple of years that no woman has been made a minister by the PDP and the Congress both of which have woman MLAs.

In a bid to pacify those annoyed over having not been given a berth in the ministry, the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, said the Cabinet expansion was a continuous affair and was not complete with today’s inductions.

Those inducted in the ministry are: Mr A.A. Zargar, Mr Abdul Gafar Sofi, Mr Javed Mustafa Mir, Qazi Mohammad Afzal, Mr Abdul Rehman Veeri and Syed Bashir Ahmed (all PDP) besides Mr Sharif Niaz, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Mr Lal Singh, Mr Taj Mohiuddin, Mr Aizaz Ahmed, Mr Jugal Kishore, Mr Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Mr Garu Ram (all Congress).

Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Sofi, who was earlier with the separatist organisation of Peoples Conference and had won the election as an Independent, has been inducted as a Cabinet minister.

Mr Yash Pal Kaundal of the Panthers Party was inducted as a Minister of State increasing the strength of the party in the ministry to two.

Both Ministers of State from the Ladakh region, Mr Rigzin Zora and Haji Nissar Ali, who won the election as Independents backed by the Ladakh Union Territory Front, have been elevated to the Cabinet status.

Other Independents have also been given a fair representation with the induction of Mr Hakim Yasin, Mr Abdul Majid Wani, Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Sofi, Thakur Puran Singh and Mr Raman Matto.

Mr Zargar, Mr Niaz, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Mr Lal Singh, Hakim Yasin, Mr Zora, Haji Nissar Ali, Qazi Afzal, Mr Mohiuddin and Mr Sofi have been inducted as Cabinet ministers while the others are Ministers of State. With this, besides the Mufti, the number of Cabinet ministers has risen to 16 and that of Ministers of State to 12.

Mrs Suman Bhagat of the Congress openly revolted against the Congress leadership for not including her name in the list of ministers that was approved by Mrs Sonia Gandhi and walked out of the swearing-in ceremony. She said although the party leadership had been harping on 33 per cent reservation for women, yet not a single woman had been inducted in the ministry.

She had a wordy duel with the PCC president, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, over the issue before she walked away.

Mrs Bhagat told mediapersons that she was a second-timer in the Assembly and had remained a minister earlier, so there was no justification to ignore her and induct her juniors. Injustice has been done with the women who have not found a single berth in the ministry, she alleged.

Supporters of Mr Raman Bhalla, who won from the Gandhinagar constituency, were also annoyed over the denial of a ministry to him.

However, the Mufti and Mr Azad later told mediapersons that a fair representation had been given to all sections and regions of the state. Two women MLAs will be appointed as chairpersons of the Women’s Commission and the Social Welfare Board with the status of Cabinet minister. Mr Azad said an option had been given to Mrs Bhagat to choose any of these posts.

Both leaders said the size of the ministry had been kept smaller than that of the ministries of the previous National Conference government.

The Mufti denied that a jumbo ministry had been formed by him and said that looking at the extraordinary situation in J&K, the number of ministers was still small.

He said there were no differences between the PDP and the Congress over the expansion and the exercise had been undertaken with complete understanding between the coalition partners.

The Chief Minister said peace, good governance and improving the economy of the state would continue to be his priorities.