All arrangements have been finalized for the oath-taking ceremony of Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister-elect, Omar Abdullah, set to take place at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar. Abdullah will take the oath alongside eight other ministers, with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha officiating the ceremony.
Notably, a minister from the Congress party will also be sworn in, with the name expected to be announced on Tuesday night. Former minister Ghulam Ahmad Mir and local party president Tariq Hameed Karras are the frontrunners for the position.
Prominent Congress leaders, including President Mallikarjun Kharge, Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, are scheduled to attend the event. They will arrive in Srinagar on Wednesday morning. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav reached Srinagar on Tuesday, and several other leaders from the INDIA bloc, such as Prakash Karat and D Raja, are also expected to be present.
This will mark the first time since 2014 that Jammu and Kashmir will have a Chief Minister and a council of ministers. While the names of the ministers have been finalized, they have not yet been disclosed. The council is expected to include representatives from both the Jammu and Kashmir regions.
The National Conference (NC) has extended invitations to key leaders and party workers for the ceremony. The NC-Congress coalition last governed Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 to 2014. Since then, the region has been under President’s rule, following the BJP’s withdrawal of support from the coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in June 2018, leading to the resignation of then-CM Mehbooba Mufti. In August 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution, resulting in Jammu and Kashmir being reclassified into two Union territories.
Security measures at the SKICC venue have been significantly enhanced in anticipation of the attendance of numerous high-profile political leaders. After the ceremony, Abdullah is scheduled to chair a meeting with administrative secretaries at 3 PM in Srinagar to discuss regional issues.
