Omar Abdullah to take oath as J&K CM on Wednesday; INDIA Alliance leaders to attend

15 October 2024

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Srinagar, Oct 15: Stage is all set for high profile swearing in ceremony of Jammu and Kashmir UT’s first Chief Minister and the council of ministers at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar today (Wednesday).

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah will be sworn in as the first CM of J&K UT while there is a possibility that eight to nine ministers will also be administered the oath by the J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Reliable sources told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that while Omar will take oath as the first CM of the UT, those who would be sworn in as the ministers include Sakina Itoo, the woman face of NC, Justice (Rtd) Hasnain Masoodi, Abdur Rahim Rather, Ali Muhammad Sagar while as Jammu region will also be given representation in the form of Javaid Rana, Surinder Chouhdary and Satish Sharma. Sources said from the Congress which is the alliance partner of NC, J&K PCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra may be included in the council of ministers as well. This way, there will be eight ministers in the Omar led cabinet.

It may be recalled that Omar had staked claim on government formation after presenting the letters of support to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday. Omar presented the letters of support from 42 MLAs of NC, four independents, six Congress legislators and one CPI(M).

On Sunday, President Droupadi Murmu issued a notification revoking the president’s rule in J&K and paving way for the elected government to take the reins of J&K. On Monday, LG Sinha invited Omar for government formation on October 16. LG conveyed his decision by sending his Principal Secretary to Omar’s Gupkar residence.

Omar was unanimously elected the leader of the NC Legislature Party on Thursday, setting the stage for his second term as chief minister. His first term, from 2009 to 2014 when Jammu and Kashmir was a full-fledged state, was also under an NC-Congress coalition Government.

Meanwhile, after the culmination of the swearing-in ceremony, the chief minister will be chairing a meeting of all Administrative Secretaries on 16-10-2024 (Wednesday) at 03:00 PM in the Meeting Hall, 3rd Floor, Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, a document available with KNO reads.

Accordingly, all the Administrative Secretaries are requested to kindly attend the meeting on the scheduled date, time and venue.

INDIA Alliance leaders to attend Omar’s swearing in ceremony in Sgr

As the Omar Abdullah led National Conference-Congress alliance is all set to form the next government on Wednesday, several INDIA Alliance leaders have confirmed to attend the swearing-in ceremony where Omar Abdullah will be taking oath as the first chief minister of the union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The oath taking ceremony will be held at SKICC here. The Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will administer oath to the new members of assembly.

Jammu and Kashmir would witness the first elected government after the erstwhile state was downgraded to the Union Territory on August 05, 2019 when the BJP-led government in centre revoked the Article 370 and 35A.

NC Spokesman, Imran Nabi Dar while talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that several INDIA bloc leaders have been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

However, he said only a few including Member of Parliament and President Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi from DMK have confirmed their participation in the meeting.

He added that the further confirmations are expected to be received by late evening.

Pertinently, NC had sent invitations to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, and D Raja.

General Secretary CPI (M) Prakash Karat will also be attending the ceremony. Karat has arrived in Srinagar today to participate in the ceremony tomorrow, sources said.

Moreover, Congress leader Ravinder Sharma has confirmed to KNO that All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Malikkarjun Kharge will be attending the ceremony while there was no confirmation about Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s participation till yet.

KNO has also learnt from the sources that Supriya Sule from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Sukhbir Singh Badal from Shiromani Akali Dal will be attending the oath taking ceremony tomorrow.

It has been learnt that 50 top leaders will be among the dignitaries who will be attending the swearing-in ceremony.

—(KNO)