Eight ministers to take oath with Omar Abdullah

All arrangements for Jammu and Kashmir chief minister-elect Omar Abdullah’s oath-taking ceremony have been completed, with national leaders also arriving in Srinagar to attend the event. Omar will take oath along with eight other ministers.
Lieutenant governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha will administer oath to Omar and the council of ministers at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC).
Notably, one minister from the Congress will also take oath. A senior party leader said that the name will be announced on Tuesday night. Former minister and Congress general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir’s and the party’s local unit president Tariq Hameed Karras are the frontrunners whose name could be finalised by the high command.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will attend the oath ceremony. All the Congress leaders will arrive in Srinagar on Wednesday morning.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, reached Srinagar on Tuesday afternoon. Sources said more than half a dozen INDIA bloc leaders, including Prakash Karat, D Raja, Kanimozhi, will attend the oath-taking ceremony.
NC provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said, “We hope everybody who has been invited will attend the oath ceremony.”
Jammu and Kashmir will get a CM and council of ministers for the first time since 2014. Though names of ministers have been finalised, they have not been made public yet. Sources said the council of ministers will have representation from both Jammu and Kashmir regions.
The NC has also extended invitations to prominent leaders and workers for the participation in the oath ceremony. The NC-Congress combine last governed Jammu and Kashmir, then a state, from 2009 to 2014.
Jammu and Kashmir came under the President’s rule in June 2018, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support from the coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The move was followed by the resignation of the then CM Mehbooba Mufti. In August 2019, Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution were revoked by the Centre, and J&K was divided and re-classified into two Union territories, J&K and Ladakh.
Security around the SKICC venue has been doubled as many top political leaders will be at the venue. The arrangements have been finalised.
After the oath ceremony, Abdullah is scheduled to chair a meeting of administrative secretaries at 3 pm in Srinagar to discuss issues related to the region.