Srinagar- The Omar Abdullah Cabinet, sworn in on Wednesday, showcases a delicate equilibrium, blending representation from both the Kashmir and Jammu regions of the Union Territory. This strategic composition includes three ministers from each region, underscoring the National Conference’s effort to balance disparate regional interests.
Notably, the Jammu delegation features Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, who triumphed over BJP J&K working president Ravinder Raina in Nowshera, and Satish Sharma, an Independent MLA from Chhamb who sidelined the Congress candidate. Both these constituencies are in the predominantly Hindu Jammu mainland. The third Jammu representative, Javed Ahmed Rana, hails from the Gujjar-dominated Pir Panjal region. From Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, who won from Ganderbal and Budgam, leads the roster, alongside South Kashmir MLA Sakina Itoo and North Kashmir MLA Javed Ahmad Dar.
While these five ministers form the initial core of the Cabinet, Abdullah retains the option to appoint three more, as the J&K Constitution allows for a total of nine ministers, offering the flexibility to incorporate broader regional or political interests.
Surinder Choudhary – Deputy CM
In the 2024 Assembly elections, NC leader Surinder Choudhary defeated Ravinder Raina, the BJP president of Jammu and Kashmir, by over 7,000 votes from the Nowshera seat in Jammu. Choudhary, who is the Deputy Chief Minister under Omar Abdullah, is a former member of the Legislative Council.
Before joining the NC, Choudhary was with the PDP, which he left in March 2022 to join the BJP. He quit the BJP and joined the NC in July 2023.
Choudhary — a former member of the PDP and the BJP who emerged a giant killer when he defeated BJP’s J-K president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera by 7,819 votes — was chosen as deputy chief minister so people of Jammu do not feel left out from the government.
In the 2014 assembly elections, Raina won the Nowshera seat by defeating Choudhary, who was then fighting on a PDP ticket, by a margin of over 10,000 votes.
Choudhary resigned from the PDP in 2022 to join the BJP before ending his over-a-year-long association with the party to join the NC in July last year.
Sakeena Itoo: A Woman Voice
Sakina Itoo is a senior NC leader who has previously also served as a minister in the erstwhile state. She won from the DH Pora assembly segment in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, polling 36,623 votes and defeating Gulzar Ahmed Dar of the PDP by over 17,000 votes.
Sakina’s father, Wali Masood Itoo, was also an NC leader who served as the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly. Wali Masood Itoo was assassinated by militants in the 1990s.Sakina Itoo, a seasoned politician and former Cabinet Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, made a resounding return to the legislative assembly by winning the DH Pora seat.
Having served as the youngest member of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly at the age of 26 in 1996, Sakina has held various ministerial portfolios over the years, including Social Welfare, Education, Tourism, Public Works, and others. Her political career is marked by numerous accolades, including the prestigious “Best MLA Award” in 2012 for her exceptional work in her constituency. Her win in 2024 solidifies her stature as one of the most influential women politicians in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2002, she lost to the PDP’s Abdul Aziz Zargar after she abandoned her election campaign following four assassination attempts on her. Six years later (the J&K Assembly term used to be six years earlier) she won by defeating Zargar and was inducted into the Cabinet. In 2014, Sakina lost again, to the PDP’s Abdul Majeed Padder, but wrested it back in the recent elections.
Javed Ahmed Rana – Represents STs
Javed Ahmed Rana won the assembly polls from Mendhar’s seat in Jammu, which was reserved for Scheduled Tribes. He has previously served as a member of both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rana polled 32,176 votes, nearly 14,000 more than the BJP’s Murtaza Ahmed Khan, who finished second in the elections.
Rana was born in Kalaban village in Poonch district. He has a BA degree, after which he graduated in law at the University of Jammu in 1989.
Satish Sharma: Independent MLA
Satish Sharma won the Chhamb seat in Jammu as an independent MLA. He was one of the many independent candidates who pledged their support to the NC-Congress alliance after the October 8 results.
Sharma defeated BJP leader Rajeev Sharma by 6,929 votes in the Chhamb seat. Sharma is the son of the former Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Madan Lal Sharma. The Late Madan Lal was a veteran Congress leader who twice won the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat.
Javed Ahmed Dar – North Kashmir’s Face In Omar’s Cabinet
Javed Dar is a senior NC leader who was a minister under the first Omar Abdullah-led dispensation during the Congress-NC coalition government.
Dar won from Rafiabad constituency in North Kashmir polling 28,783 votes. He defeated Yawar Ahmad Mir from the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party.
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