In a big surprise, the Congress opted to remain out of Omar Abdullah’s National Conference (NC) ministry that was sworn-in on Wednesday in Srinagar. Omar Abdullah was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha.

Congress had contested the assembly election in a pre-poll alliance with the NC.

Top Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi were among those present in the swearing ceremony.

Another surprise was NC’s Surinder Choudhary being inducted as Deputy Chief Minister to give representation to the Jammu region. Choudhary had defeated the BJP President Ravinder Raina in the Nowshera constituency of Rajouri district.

Others who joined the ministry were Sakina Ittoo, Javed Rana, Javed Ahmad Dar and Satish Sharma. Sharma had won the election as an independent and defeated a senior Congress leader and former deputy CM Tara Chand in the border constituency of Chhamb. Sharma is among the four independents who have joined the NC.

Giving representation to the Jammu region was a major challenge before Omar Abdullah, and he has met this one by inducting two Hindus — Surinder Chaudhary and Satish Sharma.

This is the first elected government in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir that has come to power after a gap of six years of central rule.

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Chief Tariq Hameed Karra in a statement said ”the Congress Party has strongly demanded from the Centre to restore statehood to J&K, besides the Prime Minister has time and again in public meetings promised the same.”

”But the Statehood has not been restored to J&K, we are unhappy, therefore we are not joining the Ministry at the moment,” JKPCC Chief added and said the Congress shall continue to fight for restoration of J&K’s Statehood.

However, there were reports that the local Congress leadership was annoyed over the NC offering them only one berth in the ministry whereas the former wanted at least two slots.

INDIA bloc leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) and Sanjay Singh (AAP) were present.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also attended Omar’s swearing in ceremony. She was warmly received by NC chief and Omar’s father Dr Farooq Abdullah at the SKICC where the event was held.

Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone wrote on X; “It is a momentous day for the people of J and K. After more than five years, popular rule is being restored. We need to remember though that the last assembly was the most empowered assembly in the country. And today it is probably among the most disempowered. Let us hope we reclaim and retrieve whatever we were robbed of on August 5, 2019 and what rightfully belongs to us”….

Former Mayor of Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu, who unsuccessfully contested the election against the NC candidate, wrote; “I extend my best wishes to Mr Omar Abdullah and his Council of Ministers as they are sworn in today. People of J&K expect them to uphold and deliver on all the promises made to them — primarily the aspirational agenda on which this election was mainly fought”.