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Discontent brews in NC after Omar’s cabinet expansion
Senior NC leaders and MLAs Mubarak Gul, Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri and Abdul Majeed Larmi, who were overlooked for ministerial berths, have openly expressed their disappointment.
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The induction of four new ministers into the Omar Abdullah-led Jammu and Kashmir cabinet on Tuesday triggered widespread discontent and protests within the ruling National Conference (NC).
Senior NC leaders and MLAs Mubarak Gul, Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri and Abdul Majeed Larmi, who were overlooked for ministerial berths, have openly expressed their disappointment.
The newly sworn-in ministers are Ali Mohammad Sagar (Khanyar, Srinagar), Saifullah Mir (Trehgam, Kupwara), Altaf Wani (Pahalgam, Anantnag), and Shameema Firdous (Habbakadal, Srinagar). The first cabinet expansion in two years was an attempt by chief minister Omar Abdullah to balance veteran experience with younger leadership.
Gul’s supporters held a protest at Press Colony in Srinagar on Wednesday, accusing the party leadership of ignoring him. They raised slogans against the party leadership and urged Gul to resign from his assembly seat and the post of general secretary.
Gul, a former J&K Speaker and the party’s general secretary, said that he was weighing his options and would reveal his next move at an appropriate time.
Another NC legislator, Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri, congratulated the new ministers but took a dig at the party, saying that non-performing ministers had been allowed to continue.
Muzaffar Iqbal Khan, an independent legislator from Thanamandi, who is supporting NC, said he feels this expansion should have never taken place. “Instead of solving issues, this expansion has created more issues. I feel this extension should have never taken place,” he said.
Leaders familiar with the developments said more than half a dozen NC legislators feel they have been ignored.
On Wednesday, legislator Abdul Majeed Larmi said he was more deserving of a cabinet berth than Pahalgam legislator Altaf Ahmad Wani. He, however, said he will remain loyal to the party. Supporters of the overlooked legislators openly blamed the chief minister’s adviser, Nasir Aslam Wani, for creating a mess in the party.
Wani and health minister Sakina Itoo said the resentment within the party ranks will be addressed internally and accused the opposition of blowing the issue out of proportion.
“Everybody has ambition, which isn’t bad. Unfortunately, only a limited number of legislators could be accommodated. It’s an internal matter of the party, and there is nothing wrong with it,” Wani said.
Itoo said NC is like a family and “everyone can express their views if they feel they didn’t like any decision and there is nothing wrong in it.”
Senior political analyst Haroon Ahmad said there was no immediate threat to the NC government and that most of the unhappy legislators were unlikely to go beyond expressing their discontent.
“NC doesn’t have any threat right now. Even those who are not happy say they will remain loyal to NC. The only thing that matters is if legislators will support NC’s Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah, who has expressed his displeasure and is about to resign from his seat and the party,” Ahmad said
Meanwhile, the main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accused the ruling NC leadership of promoting sycophancy by inducting leaders loyal to the Abdullah family.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur alleged that the NC was indulging in “kitchen cabinet” politics.
“The NC has every right to induct whomever they want into the cabinet. But those who have been loyal to the party were kept away, while those who are loyal to the Abdullah family have been inducted. This is called a kitchen cabinet. J&K witnessed on Tuesday that only those who salute Omar Abdullah will get a ministerial berth,” Thakur alleged.
