Omar Abdullah expands J&K Cabinet to 25 ministers

The Story in Brief

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expanded and reshuffled his Council of Ministers on Tuesday, inducting 10 legislators from the National Conference and Congress and dropping seven ministers. Governor Narender Nath Vohra administered the oath to the new ministers at Raj Bhawan. Seven National Conference legislators and three Congress MLAs joined the government. The outgoing ministers included six from the National Conference and one from Congress.

Mohammad Akbar Lone resigned as Assembly Speaker before taking oath as a Cabinet minister. The Hindu reports that Deputy Speaker Mohammad Sartaj Madni, a Peoples Democratic Party MLA, is likely to hold the Speaker’s charge until a new incumbent is elected during the budget session. The reshuffle took the Council from 22 to its permitted strength of 25 ministers, ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The Indian Opinion

The lazy reading is that every reshuffle is either a clean-up or a reward list. This one also reflects coalition arithmetic, an approaching election and the need to place dropped ministers in party posts. The real test is not the number of new faces but whether portfolios bring faster decisions and clearer responsibility. The budget session should show whether the expanded Cabinet can deliver more than organisational adjustment.

Source: thehindu.com

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