In a surprise move, the Congress on Wednesday opted out of Omar Abdullah’s ministry, marking the return of an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of six years.

Omar was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in a glittering ceremony at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre on the banks of the Dal lake.

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The Congress had contested the assembly election in a pre-poll alliance with the NC but it decided to support Omar’s government for the time being from outside.

Top Congress leaders, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among those present in the swearing-in ceremony.

This is the first elected government after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 when J&K was downgraded as a Union Territory.

Another surprise was NC’s Surinder Choudhary being inducted as deputy chief minister to give representation to the Jammu region. Choudhary had defeated BJP president Ravinder Raina in the Nowshera constituency of Rajouri district. He was earlier in the PDP and BJP before joining NC last year.

Others who joined the ministry were Sakina Ittoo, Javed Rana, Javed Ahmad Dar and Satish Sharma. Sharma had won the election as an independent and defeated a senior Congress leader and former deputy CM Tara Chand in the border constituency of Chhamb. Sharma is among the four independents who have joined the NC.

Giving representation to the Jammu region was a major challenge before Omar Abdullah and he has met this by inducting two Hindus, Surinder Chaudhary and Satish Sharma. Besides, he has also given representation to the Gujjar community by inducting Javed Rana in his ministry.

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Tariq Hameed Karra, in a statement, said his party has strongly demanded from the Centre to restore statehood to J&K, besides the Prime Minister has time and again in public meetings promised the same.

“But the Statehood has not been restored to J&K, we are unhappy therefore we are not joining the Ministry at the moment,” JKPCC Chief added and said the Congress Party shall continue to fight for restoration of Statehood”, he added.

However, there were reports that the local Congress leadership was annoyed over the NC offering them only one berth in the ministry whereas the former wanted at least two slots.

However, Omar said before the swearing-in ceremony, “The party (Congress) is not out of the cabinet. It’s for them to decide, and we have been in discussions with them. I will not be filling all nine vacancies in the council of ministers. Some vacancies will be kept open as we are in talks with Congress. Everything is well between NC and Congress, otherwise Kharge ji, Rahul ji, and senior Congress leaders would not be coming here. Their presence is indicative of the fact that the alliance is strong, and we will work for the people of J&K.”

“Jammu and Kashmir is a Union Territory (UT), which is unfortunate in itself. But I have always maintained that our status as a UT is temporary. We have commitments from the government of India, especially from PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, that statehood will be restored and I hope it happens as early as possible.

“In the meantime, we have a responsibility and a mandate from the people to get down to work. Governing Jammu and Kashmir comes with its own challenges, but it is also an incredible opportunity,” he added.

The event was attended by key opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc, including Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and other prominent figures like Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), Prakash Karat (CPI-M), Sanjay Singh (AAP) and Kanimozhi (DMK).