Omar Abdullah On Choosing Ex BJP Leader Surinder Choudhary As His Deputy

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday chose party leader Surinder Choudhary from Nowshera in Jammu as his deputy, saying he did so to give a voice to the people of the region and make his government inclusive.

“Our endeavour will be to take everyone along,” the National Conference leader told reporters after being sworn in. Five ministers — Sakina Masood (Itoo), Javed Dar, Javed Rana, Surinder Choudhary and Satish Sharma — also took the oath of office.

There are three vacancies and “they will gradually be filled”, Mr Abdullah said.

He said Mr Choudhary — a former member of the PDP and the BJP who emerged a giant killer when he defeated BJP’s J-K president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera by 7,819 votes — was chosen as deputy chief minister so people of Jammu do not feel left out from the government.

“I had said that we will not allow Jammu to feel that they do not have a voice or representatives in this government. I have chosen a deputy chief minister from Jammu so that the people of Jammu feel that this government is as much theirs as it is of the rest,” he said.

In the 2014 assembly elections, Mr Raina won the Nowshera seat by defeating Mr Choudhary, who was then fighting on a PDP ticket, by a margin of over 10,000 votes.

Mr Choudhary resigned from the PDP in 2022 to join the BJP before ending his over-a-year-long association with the party to join the NC in July last year.

This is the first elected government since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated from Jammu and Kashmir and the state was bifurcated into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

In the assembly elections held recently, the National Conference won 42 out of the 90 seats while alliance partner Congress bagged six. Together, the two pre-poll allies hold a majority in the 95-member assembly — five members are to be nominated by the LG.