Daijiworld Media Network - Srinagar
Srinagar, Oct 27: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expanded his cabinet on Tuesday, with four leaders taking oath as ministers. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office at Lok Bhavan in Srinagar.
The ceremony was attended by Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chaudhary, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, and leaders of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ali Mohammad Sagar, Altaf Ahmad Wani alias Altaf Kaloo, Mir Saifullah and Shamima Firdous were sworn in as ministers. All four leaders are from the Kashmir Valley.
Sagar, a former minister and seven-time MLA, was first elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly from Batamaloo in 1983 and retained the seat in 1987. He shifted to Khanyar for the 1996 election and won again in 2024, defeating independent candidate and former Srinagar deputy mayor Sheikh Imran by 9,912 votes. Sagar, who is currently the general secretary of the National Conference (NC), has never lost an election.
Mir Saifullah represents the Trehgam constituency. He was first elected to the Assembly from Kupwara in 1996 and retained the seat in the 2002, 2008 and 2014 elections. In the 2024 polls, he contested from Trehgam and defeated People's Conference candidate Bashir Ahmad Dar by nearly 4,000 votes.
Altaf Ahmad Wani, popularly known as Altaf Kaloo, represents the Pahalgam constituency. He was elected from the seat in 2014 and 2024. In the 2024 elections, he defeated Apni Party leader Rafi Ahmed Mir by more than 13,000 votes.
Shamima Firdous, an advocate-turned-politician, is the president of the NC's state women's wing. She represents the Habba Kadal constituency in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
The Jammu and Kashmir government can have up to nine ministers. The Congress, an ally of the government, has stayed away from the council of ministers, maintaining that it will not join the cabinet until statehood is restored.