Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Feb 28: Governor, N N Vohra, today invited People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to form the next Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Along with Sayeed, 24 Ministers-12 each from PDP and BJP were likely to take oath at 11 am tomorrow at Zorawar Singh auditorium of Jammu University in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other prominent Union BJP Ministers and leaders. Separatist turned mainstream politician Sajjad Lone of People’s Conference was likely to take oath as Cabinet Minister from among the quota of 12 Ministers of the BJP. Of 12 Ministers each from PDP and BJP, there will be six Cabinet Ministers each from the two parties and six Ministers of State. Official sources told the Excelsior that the BJP was expected to get the post of Legislative Assembly Speaker and one of the prominent party MLAs would be designated for the coveted post. In turn, the PDP will get the post of the Legislative Council Chairman. Sources said Dr Nirmal Singh, BJP MLA from Billawar was certain to become the Deputy Chief Minister after taking oath as the Cabinet Minister tomorrow. Other BJP MLAs, who were likely to join the Council of Ministry included Choudhary Lal Singh, Chander Prakash Ganga and Abdul Gani Kohli. Bali Bhagat and Kavinder Gupta were also likely to be inducted as the Ministers. However, one of those tipped as Ministers was likely to be spared for the post of the Speaker. Pawan Gupta, MLA Udhampur, Sunil Sharma and Choudhary Sukhnandan were likely to be inducted as the Ministers of State among others. The PDP was likely to include Naeem Akhter, MLC and party’s chief spokesperson, Dr Haseeb Drabu, Altaf Bukhari, Choudhary Zulfikar and Abdul Rehman Veeri as the Cabinet Ministers. The name of Amitabh Mattoo, former Vice Chancellor of Jammu University, is doing the rounds for likely induction as Cabinet Minister from the PDP quota. Abdul Haq Khan was among others likely to be inducted as the Ministers. As already reported, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the oath ceremony of first ever PDP-BJP coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir. After the oath ceremony, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Dr Nirmal Singh will release the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) at the official residence of the Chief Minister at 1 pm tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Governor’s invitation to Mufti Sayeed to form the Government followed the BJP-PDP combine staking the claim for formation of Government in the State under the leadership of Sayeed. Separately, Mr Sayeed has also addressed the Governor to inform him that the Peoples Democratic Party and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have decided to form a coalition government with a joint strength of 53 members in the 89 member House and that the coalition Government would thus enjoy an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly, which would enable it to provide a stable Government for the State. A Raj Bhawan statement said Sayeed also informed the Governor that he has been elected as the leader of the PDP Legislative Party on February 27, 2015 and the BJP has offered its support for PDP-BJP Government to be headed by him as the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, in a separate letter, Jugal Kishore Sharma, State president of BJP has also informed the Governor that the BJP Legislative Party has unanimously decided to extend support to the PDP in forming a Government in Jammu and Kashmir and that the BJP will also join the Government together with its 25 MLAs.
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