As Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah again dropped hints about a cabinet expansion after August 15, there are still impediments within the ruling National Conference (NC) that are forcing him to delay it.
The CM could induct three more people into the cabinet and could also reshuffle the portfolios of five ministers who are part of the council of ministers. The expansion will take place soon, at the appropriate time. Even in Delhi there has been news about a reshuffle of the cabinet, but newspersons never ask questions when it’s taking place. “The cabinet expansion should happen as it is very important. Our J&K has many regions, religions and topographies. Now we can have only nine ministers. Senior Congress leaders have been saying that statehood, not cabinet berths, is their priority. Several senior legislators from J&K are hopeful of getting a place in the cabinet. On the other hand BJP, which is the main opposition in J&K mocked the CM saying that he fears that many legislators could break from the party if they aren’t given cabinet portfolios.
The NC government is nearing completion of two years of its tenure with the same set of council of ministers who took oath in October 2024. For the past 22 months, Abdullah, despite pressure from within the party, has kept delaying the expansion. “Don’t expect a cabinet expansion before August 15. It’s going to happen here, but not before August 15,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar on the sidelines of a function earlier this week. When J&K was a state, we used to have 25 ministers.
Even senior colleagues of the CM, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan and Nasir Aslam Wani, said that cabinet expansion is the prerogative of the CM. However, Ramzan, a two-time former minister and now Rajya Sabha member, said the expansion should take place without any delay. As additional general secretary of the party, I feel it is very important to have a cabinet expansion,” Ramzan said, adding that it is the prerogative of the CM to decide who will be part of the cabinet. Last year, Omar had said that after the Rajya Sabha and bypolls, there could be a cabinet expansion. “Induction of a few more ministers is on the cards,” he had said soon after the NC won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. Though several names are doing the rounds of who could be part of the cabinet, those in the know, however, said all three could be from the NC, as Congress, which contested the polls with the NC jointly, has refused to join the government unless J&K gets statehood. Those in the know said that the CM is finding it very difficult as he has only three berths, while aspirants are many, which is termed as the main reason for the delay in the expansion.
Earlier, Omar had dropped hints about a cabinet expansion several times.
