Jammu, August 29
In a surprise development, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today elbowed out his blue-eyed boys who were eyeing a berth in his ministry.

Mr Azad gave a surprise by rejecting most of those legislators of the Congress whose names were in circulation for ministerial berths for the past about 10 months. His coalition partner of the PDP has more or less stuck to the choice of its nominees for the ministry.

The Chief Minister had reportedly discussed the issue of Cabinet expansion with the Congress high command when he visited Delhi on Saturday last.

Mr G.M. Saroori, Mr Majid Wani, Mr Yogesh Sawhney, Mr Abdul Gani Vakil and Mr Usman Majid, who are considered the blue-eyed boys of Mr Azad, have been kept out of the ministry. They are also known as the “shouting brigade” of Mr Azad in the legislature.

Mr G.A. Mir, who was also close to Mr Azad, was behind the bars for his alleged involvement in the Srinagar sex racket. The only one among his favoured to be inducted as a Cabinet minister was Mr Jugal Sharma, who represents the Reasi constituency of Udhampur.

In a tacit move, Mr Azad has kept three ministerial berths vacant by increasing the strength of his ministry to 22 with a view to keeping the hopes alive among the aspirants. The new law restricts the strength of the ministry to 25.

Women and the Kashmiri Pandit community have again not been given any representation in the ministry. Both had a place in the previous ministry of Mufti Sayeed. Earlier, there was a talk of Mrs Khem Lata Wakhloo getting a ministerial berth to fill the two segments, but finally her name was missing from the list.

The districts of Kupwara (Kashmir) and Poonch (Jammu) have not found any slot in the ministry. While the ruling coalition does not have any seat in Poonch where the National Conference (NC) holds all the three seats, the NC occupies four of the five Assembly seats in Kupwara. The only Independent, Mr Mohiuddin Sofi, who was supporting the Azad government from outside, has not been inducted. He was a minister in the Mufti’s Cabinet.

Mr Azad has denied even a single seat to the Panthers Party that witnessed a revolt recently. The party had two slots in the Mufti Cabinet. He has also rejected the claim of the Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) for increasing their strength from the existing one in the Cabinet.

The Baramula and Anantnag districts of the Kashmir valley have again managed to dominate the ministry by sharing three berths each.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Muzaffar Beig, represents the Baramula constituency. The PDP leader, Mufti Sayeed, who is known for rewarding his friends, has got Mr Dillawar Mir inducted as a Cabinet minister.