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The people’s newsroom

StatesJammu and Kashmir

Omar Abdullah to expand and reshuffle J&K cabinet next week; Sajjan Singh Yadav named chief secretary

After meeting Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in Srinagar, the chief minister told MLAs to stop lobbying because the list is already decided. The Centre has picked a 1995-batch IAS officer to succeed Atal Dulloo.

From the editorial desk · SrinagarPublished
A Srinagar sign lit up at night (file photo)
A Srinagar sign lit up at night (file photo)Photo: Gannu03 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Key points

  1. Omar Abdullah said he will expand and reshuffle his council of ministers in the first two or three days of next week.
  2. He told colleagues the choice of ministers has already been made and asked them to stop sending WhatsApp messages.
  3. The MHA has named Dr Sajjan Singh Yadav chief secretary from 1 November, after Atal Dulloo retires.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday that he would expand and reshuffle his council of ministers early next week, and asked hopefuls in his party to stop lobbying because the decision had already been taken.

He spoke to reporters in Srinagar after meeting Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Lok Bhawan in the morning. Omar said he had asked the Lieutenant Governor for time to carry out the exercise in the first two or three days of next week, and that Sinha would fix the date.

“I will carry out the expansion and certain changes in my Council of Ministers,” he said.

The same day, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs named a new chief secretary for the Union Territory. Dr Sajjan Singh Yadav, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, will succeed Atal Dulloo, who retires on 31 October.

“Please stop sending WhatsApp messages”

The chief minister had a blunt message for National Conference MLAs and colleagues hoping for a berth. “The decision of who will become a minister is not pending; it has already been made,” he said. “Please stop sending WhatsApp messages.”

Omar said the list had been finalised after consultations with National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, and that the decision would be carried out “in the next two to three days”. He did not say how many ministers would be added or who would be dropped.

He also said he had asked after the Lieutenant Governor’s health, which he said had not been good for several weeks.

A new chief secretary

The home ministry’s order said: “Dr Sajjan Singh Yadav is hereby transferred from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir as chief secretary.” He will take charge on 1 November or on the date he joins, whichever is later.

Dulloo, a 1989-batch IAS officer, retires at the end of the month, so the change at the top of the administration will come within days of the cabinet changes.

Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia

Omar was also asked about pilgrims from Kashmir stranded in Saudi Arabia. “This is an issue, a serious concern, and it is not just our pilgrims who are stranded,” he said. His government would approach the Ministry of External Affairs, he said, and could spend from its own budget to bring them home if the Centre did not help.

He declined to comment on reports of Chinese patrolling along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, saying the question was for Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor or the Centre. Asked about the National Dental Commission Act, he said it was a matter for Health Minister Sakina Itoo, who is in Singapore, and that the question of jurisdiction still had to be examined.

What happens next

The expansion now waits on the Lieutenant Governor’s date. Once the swearing-in is fixed, the new ministers will take office days before Yadav takes over the administration on 1 November.