Omar Abdullah Takes Oath, Congress Sits Out Of J&K Government

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which got its first government since losing its special status. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also administered oath to eight other lawmakers from his party at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar.

The Congress – which had allied with Mr Abdullah’s party but put up a flop show in the elections – has opted to sit out of the government. Sources told NDTV this morning it was offered one ministerial berth, which it declined and chose to extend support from outside.

Top leaders of the INDIA alliance – Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s K Kanimozhi, NCP’s Supriya Sule, CPI’s D Raja, and AAP’s Sanjay Singh – attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Mehbooba Mufti, chief of the Peoples Democratic Party and former chief minister, was also present.

Mr Abdullah, the first elected head of Jammu and Kashmir in a decade, expressed hope this morning that the status of a Union Territory turns out to be temporary for Jammu and Kashmir.

“We look forward to working with the Government of India to resolve the people’s problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to J-K,” Mr Abdullah told ANI after offering prayers at the Hazratbal shrine.

Mr Abdullah guided his party to a massive victory in the September-October elections, winning 42 seats in the 90-member assembly. It has the support of four Independents and one AAP legislator, besides that of the Congress, which won just six seats – down from 12 in the 2014 election.

The NC leader, in a remarkable turnaround months after his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, won the Budgam and Ganderbal seats to enter the assembly.