Political tug-of-war intensifies once between the National Conference (NC) and Congress over cabinet berth in the Omar Abdullah-led cabinet in Jammu and Kashmir. The controversy spruced up on Tuesday after the news flashed that Omar Abdullah was reluctant to give Congress more than one berth in his cabinet turning down the request for three berths by the Congress. The Congress refused and decided to support the J&K government from outside. The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet can have a maximum of nine ministers including the Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters, Omar Abdullah said, “It’s for the Congress to decide, Congress is not out of the cabinet. Some vacancies will be kept open as we are in talks with Congress.” Abdullah said there was no resentment with Congress and they can join anytime the cabinet whenever they want.
Reacting to the fresh situation, Congress Spokesperson Vaibhav Shukla said, “Congress is a part of India Alliance, the alliance is forming the government. We are supporting the Omar Abdullah government. I don’t see any controversy.
The Congress bagged six seats in the Assembly polls, which was much less compared to its senior ally doing the heavy lifting to take the alliance past the majority mark. The India Alliance won 48 seats.
Satish Sharma, the son of two-time MP and former Congress minister Madan Lal Sharma, won the Chhamb seat in Jammu by defeating BJP’s Rajeev Sharma by a margin of 6,929 votes.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took oath as the Chief Minister of J&K. Party leader Surinder Choudhary from Nowshera, Jammu was made the Deputy Chief Minister.
The question that will be asked is how come the National Conference thought Congress doesn’t deserve to be the second largest party in the state and offer the deputy post to Congress.
