StatesJammu and Kashmir
Omar Abdullah's cabinet will grow once Lt Governor Sinha is back, says Farooq Abdullah
The National Conference president told reporters in Budgam that the long-awaited expansion of the Jammu and Kashmir council of ministers had been held up because Manoj Sinha was unwell.
Key points
- Farooq Abdullah said the J&K cabinet will be expanded after Lt Governor Manoj Sinha returns.
- He said the delay was because the Lieutenant Governor was unwell.
- The National Conference-led government completed two years on 16 October.
The expansion of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s council of ministers in Jammu and Kashmir will take place once Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha returns, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Monday, linking the delay to Sinha’s health.
“The Lieutenant Governor was not well. He was sick,” Abdullah told reporters in Budgam district, near Srinagar. “When the Lieutenant Governor comes, there will be an expansion of the government.”
The remarks come amid speculation over the long-awaited move to fill the remaining places in his cabinet. The National Conference-led government took office in October 2024 after the first Assembly election since the former state was split and made a Union Territory, and it completed two years on 16 October.
Under the Union Territory arrangement, ministers are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, which is why the timing depends on Sinha.
For the National Conference, a cabinet expansion would be a chance to reward legislators from regions that feel underrepresented and to reset the government’s agenda as it enters its third year. The party has also kept up its demand for the restoration of statehood, which it says would give the elected government real powers over areas now controlled by the Lieutenant Governor.
Abdullah did not say how many ministers would be added or who they might be.