Omar Abdullah is set to take oath as the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir since it became a Union Territory, after the National Conference-Congress alliance won the assembly elections held after the abrogation of Article 370.
The MLAs who are likely to take oath in Omar Abdullah cabinet are:
- Javed Ahmad Dar, MLA from Rafiabad (National Conference)
- Sakeena Itoo, MLA from DH Pora (National Conference)
- Javed Rana, MLA from Mendar (National Conference)
- Surender Choudary, MLA from Nowshera Jammu (National Conference)
- Satish Sharma, MLA from Chamb Jammu (Independent)
The ceremony will be attended by many high-profile leaders from ally Congress like Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
Abdullah will take oath alongwith his council of ministers at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). The oath of office and secrecy will be administered by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at 11.30 am.
Among the prominent INDIA bloc leaders invited for the event include West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, NCP President Sharad Pawar, RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and DMK's MK Stalin. Other key invitees include Uddhav Thackeray from Shiv Sena, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, and AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha invited Omar Abdullah to take the oath as the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister on Monday, a day after the government revoked the president's rule in the Union Territory.
On Thursday, the National Conference (NC) Legislature Party unanimously elected Omar Abdullah as its leader, paving the way for his second term as Chief Minister. Abdullah's first term, from 2009 to 2014, took place when Jammu and Kashmir was still a full-fledged state, under an NC-Congress coalition government.