Omar Govt to expand J&K cabinet soon

Rift widens between coalition partners as Cong refuses to be part of Govt     

Arvind Sharma

Jammu Tawi, May 09: The rift between the coalition partners, the National Conference (NC) and the Congress, has widened so much so in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) that the Omar Abdullah led NC government has decided to expand cabinet shortly as Congress has refused to join government, highly placed sources said.

It may be mentioned here that the NC led Government in the UT of J&K has been functioning short of 3 ministers since the last more than one and a half year.

The NC led government was formed in J&K in October 2024 and Congress was the coalition partner of the NC but it has not joined the government.

The strength of the J&K Assembly after delimitation has gone up to 90 members and as per the constitutional norms, the ministerial strength of the House must be 10% of the House strength.

However, there are still 6 ministers in the Omar Abdullah led government in J&K and no expansion of the cabinet has been done so far.

Ever since the formation of government in J&K, the NC had so far been waiting for its coalition partner Congress to join the government but the Congress did not join owing to several reasons.

Now, sources said that the Omar Abdullah led government has finally decided to expand cabinet shortly.

The NC led government was formed in J&K in October 2024 and Congress was the coalition partner of the NC.

The strength of the J&K Assembly after delimitation has gone up to 90 members and as per the constitutional norms, the ministerial strength of the House must be 10% of the House strength.

The National Conference (NC) led government in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has surrendered before the central government over the Statehood issue and has been appreciating the Modi Government on several other issues rather than raising the Statehood issue vigorously.

This charge was made by the JKPCC Chief Spokesperson, Ravinder Sharma, while talking exclusively to the Northlines.

“We will not join the government in J&K,” Sharma said, while adding, “The NC has failed to raise the demand of Statehood before the central government and has instead started appreciating the central government on several issues by supporting signature campaigns and by other ways,” the J&K Congress Chief Spokesperson said.