National

Omar sworn in J&K Chief Minister

— Photo: NISSAR AHMAD

GENERATIONAL SHIFT: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with Governor N.N. Vohra after the oath-taking ceremony in Jammu on Monday. He is the youngest Chief Minister of the State.

JAMMU: National Conference president Omar Abdullah was sworn in the 11th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. Nine Ministers were also sworn in.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Governor N.N. Vohra at a simple but impressive function organised in the Jammu University auditorium here.

Wearing a black sherwani, 38-year-old Omar arrived at the venue with his father Farooq Abdullah, mother Mollie, wife Payal and two children Zaahir and Zaamir besides his sisters. His uncle Mustafa Kamal, who lost the elections, was also present.

Mr. Omar Abdullah took the oath in English. After taking the oath, he said: “My job will be to heal the wounds inflicted on the people by the two-month-long agitation between Jammu and Srinagar last summer.”

“Good governance and reaching out to the people are my top priorities,” he told The Hindu. People, especially youth, had lot of expectations from him. “I will try to rise to their expectations.”

Mr. Omar Abdullah became the choice for the top job after the National Conference (having 28 members in the Assembly) and the Congress (17 members) stitched up a coalition crossing the magic number of 44 in the 87-member House. Both will be equal partners in the government and will have 12 Ministers each in the government as the State has a ceiling of 25 Ministers after a Bill was passed by the Ghulam Nabi Azad government two years back.

Nine others who took the oath are Tara Chand, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Taj Mohiuddin, Nawang Rigzin Jora and Sham Lal from the Congress and Abdur Rahim Rather, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mian Altaf and S.S. Salathia from the National Conference. All of them are Cabinet ministers.

The Congress has nominated Tara Chand as Deputy Chief Minister. The Congress has agreed that there would be no rotation of chief ministership. Portfolios of the Ministers will be announced later after both parties agree on the distribution, the official sources said.

Among those present on the occasion were Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the PCC chief and former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, senior BJP leader Chaman Lal Gupta.

Authorities had made tight security arrangements. The area had been sealed off with hundreds of policemen in uniform and civvies.

Mr. Omar Abdullah is the youngest Chief Minister in the State’s history. Educated in Srinagar, Himachal Pradesh and Mumbai, he started his career in the hotel industry but switched over to politics. He successfully contested the 1998 Lok Sabha elections to become MP at the age of 28. He was re-elected a year later.

He went on to become the youngest Union Minister at the age of 29 under the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He served as Union Minister of State, Commerce and Industry in the NDA government. After two years, he was made the Union Minister of State for External Affairs. Three years later, he was handed over the mantle of the party by his father in 2002.

The ninth paragraph of a report "Omar sworn in J&K Chief Minister" (January 6, 2009) said that among those present on the occasion was the PCC chief and former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. The PCC Chief of Jammu & Kashmir is Union Minister Saifuddin Soz.

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