NC leaders eye berths as Omar mulls cabinet expansion

After Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s announcement about the possibility of expanding his cabinet following the by-polls on the seats of Budgam and Nagrota, several National Conference leaders are vying for a berth in the council of ministers, with some of them seeking representation of the Central Kashmir districts of Budgam and Srinagar in the cabinet.

They want that both North Kashmir and South Kashmir should get adequate representation.

Besides Omar, there are five other Ministers in the cabinet, and the CM can induct another two MLAs under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which restricts the council of ministers to 10 per cent of the current strength of 90 members in the legislative assembly.

National conference Additional General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, says it is the discretion of the Chief Minister on when to expand the cabinet. “There are three more ministers who can be inducted into the cabinet. There are certainly aspirations of different regions and of the leaders too, and people have expectations from the government that their developmental works would speed up as more leaders are inducted in the cabinet,” he says.

The Congress said it would stay out of the government till the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, but the party has developed differences with the NC after it was denied a  Rajya Sabha seat in elections held in October last year.

Senior Congress leader, G N Monga, however, says as of now, discussions have not taken place with the alliance partner over expansion in the cabinet. The party earlier said that it was not consulted by the NC over the candidature for Rajya Sabha polls and Omar has not shown any interest in setting up a coordination committee to discuss important matters of the government.

Earlier, during his oath taking ceremony in 2024, Omar inducted three Ministers in his cabinet from the Jammu region, including independent MLA Satish Sharma, the son of former Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma. Omar had said that this was done to meet the aspirations of the people of the Jammu region. Two other Ministers from Jammu in the Council of Ministers are Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Javed Ahmed Rana, who represent the Rajouri-Poonch belt. Choudhary is also Deputy Chief Minister in Omar Abdullah’s cabinet.  

From Kashmir, there are only two ministers. NC MLA from Rafiabad, Javed Ahmad Dar, represents North Kashmir. From South Kashmir, Omar has inducted a woman minister, Sakina Itoo, MLA from Kulgam.  NC leaders say that Omar would have to make a careful choice between the old guard and new MLAs while choosing his next cabinet at a time when the party has faced criticism from its own MP Aga Ruhulla for its failure to deliver on electoral promises like rationalisation of reservations.

Names of both senior leaders as well as first-time MLAs are doing the rounds. From Central Kashmir, the names of Salman Sagar, son of former minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, MLA Chanapora, Mushtaq Guru, Omar’s close aide and party chief spokesperson, Tanvir Sadiq, MLA from Eidgah assembly constituency, Mubarak Gul and the Habbakadal legislator, Shameema Firdous, could be in contention.

A senior party leader says that from North Kashmir, the party could consider Hilal Akbar Lone, son of former MP Akbar Lone, Sajad Shafi, former Minister, Mir Saifullah, MLA Gulmarg, Farooq Shah, and Qaiser Jamshed Lone.

“Cabinet expansion is the demand from people, and Srinagar should get representation,” says an NC MLA from Srinagar city.

Another NC leader, however, reasons that Budgam has a representation both in parliament, where the party is represented by its MP Aga Ruhulla, and also has the speaker in the legislative assembly, Abdul Rahim Rather, who is MLA from the Charar-i-Sharif assembly constituency. NC MLA from Gurez, Nazir Ahmed Gurezi, says that the Srinagar district has both old-time timers as well as the young faces about whom the party can take a view to be included in the cabinet