New Delhi: 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 Abdullah’s party, opted to leave the government. Sources told NDTV that 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.
Omar Abdullah previously served as the CM of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state from 2009 to 2014 in the coalition government of NC and Congress.
Mehbooba Mufti, chief of the Peoples Democratic Party and former chief minister, was also present.
Ahead of his oath ceremony, Abdullah expressed hope 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,” Abdullah told ANI.